


Is That Alright?

by amaltheas



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Edwardian, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Edwardian Period, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Drama, Feels, Fluff, Gothic, Mystery, Romantic Fluff, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22336810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaltheas/pseuds/amaltheas
Summary: A young aspiring maid called Rey has found her way to Alderaan House, estate of the Solo Family, where she dreams of finding a home finally. Things change when Ben Solo arrives and Rey gets tangled up in a web of mysteries, secrets and most importantly: Love. But can a mere maid be together with the heir of a powerful business empire, against all social standarts, defying classes? Can a young man caught between desires and responsibilities find what his heart truly wants?Welcome to this Edwardian Reylo AU.You might find some thematic inspirations from Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" and the glitz and glam of "Downton Abbey" in this story.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 24
Kudos: 117





	1. Alderaan House

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there!  
> I've recently got back into writing fanfiction and english is not my native language, so please be gentle with me while reading, especially since I am not quite satisfied with the first chapter. I hope you can look past that, because I have many things planned for this story!
> 
> Enjoy!

Travelling to Alderaan House, the estate of her new employers, the Solos, had been quite uneventful so far. However, Rey was glad to arrive soon finally, because she had to take overcrowded trains and find a way to get from the train station to the actual estate, which had started to become very annoying and tiring at some point. In the end, she had to walk from the train station to the estate and she was glad it was not a hot summer afternoon, only a still pretty cold day in spring, which made walking at least a bit easier. But she would still be late and this would ruin a good first impression.  
This was a new adventure for her, although Rey had not expected this turn of events. The people at the orphanage had told her that she could not stay there anymore as she was simply too old now. A new place to stay had to be found and being a housemaid would provide a roof over her head, food and of course: work. Maybe she would even have the chance to climb the ranks and become someone with a more important position at Alderaan House.  
Rey could now see the estate in the distance, which was much more bigger than she had thought. People at her orphanage told her that the Solo family was rich, because they had ties to the Skywalkers, who made a fortune while doing import and export businesses. The Skywalkers themselves had apparently great influence in London, but here in the countryside they were just an impressive myth that was being told. However, the Solos were still beloved in upper ranks of society. She could not wait to see how life with them at such a big place would be, even if Rey had to serve them.  
Rey would have to learn quickly though, to behave perfectly as a housemaid under these circumstances. Mistakes were not allowed or she would be let go again.  
Suddenly a black, shiny car stopped besides her, distracting her from her thoughts and the many plans she was already forging in her mind. Rey stopped walking and looked at the person who was driving the fancy car.  
“Excuse me, Miss?” a man was asking her.  
The young man with dark and a little bit of curly hair sat in the driver’s seat, the rest of the car empty. His clean uniform with a sharp cut, a dark shade of brown and the clean and very white gloves were telling her immediately that this man was a chauffeur of a wealthy family. His dark eyes observed her carefully.  
“Yes please?” asked Rey and came closer to the car to take a closer look at the man inside. He had something wild in his eyes. Hidden behind his well put together, elegant look there was probably an untamed character.  
“Are you on your way to Alderaan House, if I may ask?” His eyes wandered to her big trunk, that she had been carrying with her and was responsible for the weak feeling in her arms by now.  
“Indeed I am! Why are you asking?”  
“I work there, so maybe I can take you with me for the rest of the way. I do not want to be unfriendly, but you look like you are quite exhausted, Miss.”  
Rey had to smile at that, she was indeed exhausted and was glad that he had offered to help her get to the estate. Maybe she wouldn’t arrive too late, as she had already had feared. She probably looked pretty bad, with an unflattering, dirty dress and her hair done in a simple updo, that had been ruined by traveling. Her first impression was ruined anyways. After she agreed, she threw her trunk inside the car, crawled into it, made herself comfortable on the dark brown leather seats and enjoyed the breeze of fresh air, that blew in her face while the car moved in a steady pace over the road.  
“What is your name by the way, Miss?” asked the young man.  
“Rey,” she answered.  
“Rey... Who?”  
“Rey Nobody.”  
The man looked at her for a moment, but then he smiled in understanding. “Well, hello Miss Rey Nobody! I’m is Poe Dameron by the way and I am the chauffeur of the Solos. I promise you, you will soon feel at home here.”  
Home.  
She would’ve loved that a lot, to finally have found a home. 

Rey and Poe entered the kitchen, where many employees were already preparing dinner. Delicious smells waved through it, coming from all kinds of pots and pans. The kitchen maids were running around, other housemaids preparing the plates with the foot. It was the kind of organized chaos Rey knew from her time at the Orphanage. A woman stood at the side, observing the kitchen, making sure that everyone was doing an excellent job. She wore a black dress almost in floor length, a very strict hairstyle. When she noticed Rey and Poe, she raised an eyebrow.  
“Mr Dameron, I told you to not bring any ladies into the kitchen…”  
Poe immediately whirled his hands around in defense. “Oh no, it’s not like that Mrs Holdo! This girl here is Rey and she says she is supposed to start working here.”  
“Oh, the orphan girl?” asked Mrs Holod and took a closer look at Rey. “A bit late, my girl. Please make sure that this won’t happen again, we have to always be on time to please Mr and Mrs Solo. Rose over here will show you your room that you will share with her. She will also give you your uniform and I expect you to show up in half an hour here again, so I can introduce you to Mr and Mrs Solo before dinner. Today you will still help in the kitchen, because I can’t send you out without any training yet, but tomorrow we will prepare you for your position as Parlour maid. You will clean the rooms in the morning and you will be helping serving afternoon tea and dinner.”  
Rey just nodded all the time, while Mrs Holdo explained to her how her schedule today would look like. Mrs Holdo seemed to be strict, but as the housekeeper she had to. If something would go wrong, it would be her fault and a good housekeeper knew how to organize the employees. Rey wondered if the could be like Mrs Holdo one day for a moment, before someone else joined the small group.  
Rey turned around and looked into the eyes of a young, asian woman. Guessing that this was Rose, Rey had to smile at her because the young girl looked a bit chaotic, with spots from the cooking on her apron and even her skirt, her hair done in a messy updo. It was obvious that she was a kitchen maid and that Mrs Holdo did not approve of how Rose looked.  
“Miss Tico, how often have I told you to take care of your clothes. Just because you work in the kitchen doesn’t mean you can look like you fell into a pot of soup,” Mrs Holdo scolded her.  
“I am sorry Mrs Holdo, I promise it won’t happen again,” said Rose and Rey had the strange feeling that this was not the first time she said this to the housekeeper. Rose then turned around and said in an excited tone to Rey: “Hello, I’m Rose. Rose Tico!”  
The kitchen maid held out a hand toward Rey.  
“I’m Rey, nice to meet you,” said Rey, while taking the hand of Rose. Both girls started to move away from the kitchen and Rey was only able to wave at Poe, before leaving the chaotic room for the staircases, that lead to all floors of Alderaan House and the accommodation of the employes on the very top of the building. While they moved up, Rey asked: “So, looks like we are now roommates?”  
“It does! It was so boring being alone all the time, so I hope we get along well and will enjoy our company a lot!” said Rose to her. “If you need any help you can just ask me. Or Poe, since you already got to know him. My friend Finn will also help you too, I am sure. You might him see more often anyways, since he aspires to be a proper Butler, so he is always with Mr Kenobi. He wants to retire soon. You will soon learn that we’re here basically like a family, even Mrs Holdo who seems to be so strict.” Rose chuckled.  
Pretty quickly the girls had arrived at the room that both would share now. There was nothing special in there: two simple beds, two bedside tables with a candle on each. Both girls also had a wardrobe for themselves. There was also one small window, where you could see some mountains in the distance, although there were hard to see now, since it was getting dark outside. It was not much, yes, but it was more than Rey had at the orphanage.  
Rose immediately opened one of the wardrobes and starting to rummage around in it. Rey just stood there, watching Rose, while she was looking for the uniform.  
“So…” started Rey her sentence. “How is the work here?”  
“Oh, everything has a strict schedule, you will get used to it soon. Most of the days it is the same, only when the Solos expect visitors or have a fancy dinner with friends and family, then we have to do some extra work,” explained Rose, who had finally found the uniform and started to help Rey put it on.  
When Rey had the majority of her uniform put on, Rose showed her what she had to take care of, so she would always look clean and proper, since Rey would be out in the house a lot. Mrs Holdo would keep her eyes on Rey’s appearance.  
When Rey looked into the mirror, she saw a housemaid in a simple, dark blue dress that had a skirt that went to her ankles, dark shoes, her hair done in a strict updo. It was strange looking at herself like that, like a completely different person was standing in front of her. She took a deep breath, before she started to put on her apron, Rose started to speak again.  
“Well, Mr and Mrs Solo are actually pretty nice, so don’t worry too much about them. Don’t make Mrs Holdo angry by breaking any rules or ignoring instructions…” Rose took a break while thinking about more things Rey would have to be careful about. She made some funny faces while doing that, which made Rey laugh. She already liked this girl. “Don’t worry, you look like someone who learns fast, Mrs Holdo and the Solos will appreciate it.”

After Rey returned with Rose to the kitchen, Mrs Holdo immediately lead her through the corridors in the upper parts of Alderaan House. The servants had up there special corridors too which made access to specific rooms much easier. Rey was soon led into the salon, where the fireplace was already burning, warm colors like a darker shade of red, gold and brown ruled, giving the room a comfortable mood. Flowers had been put everywhere and there were so many details, accessoires and books everywhere. Rey had never seen so much luxury in her life. She was not here to marvel at the things someone else owned however.  
An older woman and man were talking to each other while holding up some letters.  
“He will be there in time, he writes,” said the woman, in her greyish green dress and her grey hair neatly done in a fancy updo. The tall, white haired man besides her listened closely to her, excitement in his eyes. “And then he will stay with us for the summer.”  
“Mr and Mrs Solo?” she heard Mrs Holdo say, which caught the attention of the old lady. Both the lady and the man looked expectant at Mrs Holdo. They did not notice Rey however. People rarely did. “This is Rey, the new housemaid who will start her work officially tomorrow.”  
Mrs Holdo noticed that Rey tried to hide behind her, but pushed the girl suddenly in front of her, so the Solos could take a closer look at their new housemaid.  
“Welcome Rey,” said Mrs Solo, welcoming her with a warm smile. “Nice to meet you, I hope you will enjoy living and working here. We will try to make it not too hard for you.” She smiled now at Rey.  
“And I will try to not disappoint you…” said Rey.  
“Well, a lot of people have already said that, who were in your position before,” said Mr Solo suddenly, scratching his white haired head, eyes clearly signaling that he was not too serious about what he had just said.  
“Han, don’t frighten the girl,” Mrs Solo waved his words aside. “He just likes to joke around too much. Anyways… if you have anything that bothers you, you can always come to us and talk about it.”  
With that, both Rey and Mrs Holdo were dismissed and returned back to the kitchen. Before Rey left the room, she turned around and looked after Mr and Mrs Solo over her shoulder. They were talking about the letter again. She wondered for a moment what it might be about, but forgot about it quickly. But about one thing the young girl was already sure: after meeting these two, she had a feeling that Mr and Mrs Solo were nice people and she indeed liked them already a lot. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all.  
When they had finally returned to the kitchen, it was time for Rey to help the other kitchen maids cleaning up and preparing the dinner for all the employees, who would have their dinner after everyone went to bed. During working and the dinner she had a chance to get familiar with a lot of other employees, having a lot of fun with Rose, Poe and her new Finn as well. As Rose had already told her, Finn offered her to help her when they would be out in the house, if Rey would need any help at all.  
Although Rey had a lot of fun with everyone, she was glad when it was time to go to bed. It had been an exhausting first day so far, but the people were friendly. Maybe she could have a real future in this house. When Rey fell asleep she could still feel the excitement for what her future could have in store for her. 

Weeks passed by quickly.  
Training for a Parlour maid was rough; Mrs Holdo was a strict teacher and Housekeeper. Rey had to be precise when she had to help set the table, everything had its place, the cutlery had to be put into a correct order, decorations on it had to look pleasing to the eye. When cleaning the rooms, she had to be quick and still do an excellent job. It was exhausting, but routine took soon over her. The only thing that gave her at least a sense of time was the planning and organizing of a birthday dinner for Mrs Solo, which would happen very soon.  
The seasons changed, the temperatures got warmer with each day. Trees turned green again, flowers started to bloom… Rey had started to love taking strolls outside, enjoying the warm sun on her skin. There were so many places to discover on the estate, lush meadows reacting to the winds brushing them, a lake glittering in the late spring sun… The young maid had also started to enjoy her free time with her new friends Rose, Poe and Finn (and Finn was indeed always so nice to help her around in the House). With them, each day was one big surprise full of fun and laughs. It helped Rey a lot to make herself comfortable at Alderaan House.  
Besides having a lot of fun with her new friends, she loved to walk through the house while cleaning. It was a very interesting place, family portraits everywhere, paintings of so many people and places she always dreamed of visiting. The house had so many rooms, that Rey would still get lost frequently. Sometimes, when doing her work she would meet Mrs Skywalker in one of the rooms. Padmé (she hated it when someone called her Mrs Skywalker) always stopped her and tried to have a tea with Rey, but unfortunately she always had to decline her invitation, although she really wished she could sit down with Padmé, because the old lady seemed to be someone who could tell many interesting stories. It was not allowed, unfortunately, that a simple maid could have tea with a lady of a higher status. Although the Solos were friendly with their employees, there was still a fine line here that kept employees distanced from their employers.  
Rey did a fairly good job at being a maid: she vanished like it was expected from her, nobody noticed her when she was cleaning rooms or even while serving dinner. Since Mrs Holdo never scolded her for something, she was apparently doing a good job. Sometimes though, she truly felt like a ghost walking down those dark corridors of Alderaan House.  
Mrs Solo’s birthday dinner arrived quickly, disturbing the usual routine of Alderaan House. Many friends, business partners and extended family had been invited. For example, the Organas were invited, old business partners of the Skywalkers. Lando Calrissian was telling jokes or flirting with other guests. Others were distant relatives or other more or less important business partners that seemed to just enjoy the offerings of the evening.  
Rey had been placed as a maid offering some drinks and appetizers to the guests that were entering the great foyer, navigating through the guests, not really being noticed until someone wanted something from her platter. Finn was welcoming guests at the front door and would later help Mr Kenobi leading the service for the dinner. She and Finn were the only ones of their small group of friends that were active in the House tonight. Rose had to do her work in the kitchen, while Poe had been sent out to get someone, but had not returned so far. It had started to rain and storm outside and she was worried for Poe, who had to drive through this weather. She stared at her own reflection in the windows, graced by the raindrops from outside. Although she was wearing a maid uniform, she still looked much more elegant in this updated version of it for the occasion. The cloth was fancier and definitely a bit more expensive, a straight cut giving the person wearing it an elegant silhouette, with black cloth. At the neckline and the end of the sleeves were elegant, white embroideries. Her hair had been done in a simple updo, which was quite the opposite to the hairstyles of the guests. It was soon time for the dinner and worrying about Poe would only distract her from her work.  
“Don’t worry too much about Poe, he is a grown man, he can take care of himself,” Finn told her, when they moved the the dining hall to begin serving dinner.  
“I expect nothing less of him,” Rey gave back as an answer, calming down herself.  
And then it was time to focus on her work.  
The dinner went quite smoothly. Rey and other servants were hushing around the table and the guests, offering all kinds of foods, sauces, drinks and desserts. When offering plates, Rey liked it a lot to catch some of the chatter on the table: some people were talking about business, sometimes about things happening in the world or other stuff that was bothering the society of the rich at the moment. It were different stories she would hear from time to time at the orphanage, stories that told her way more about the world.  
After dinner it was common that men went to the smoking room, talking about even more business, while the women went to the drawing room to have fun of their own. Rey was part of the maids that would follow the ladies and serve them there. Again, Rey floated around like a ghost, offering drinks or pastries.  
“I wonder where he is…” she heard a woman say when she offered her and her friend cups of tea.  
The other woman snorted. “It’s quite sad that he could not even show up to his mother's birthday. That man really has no heart.”  
Rey noticed that the women watched Mrs Solo and frowned at the comment. Leia had a son? She had noticed that some family portraits were placed around the house and some faces in them she had not seen at Alderaan House so far.  
“And can you believe that he has to marry someone in the future? That poor woman, having to share a bed with such a cold man…” The woman who started the talk offered a badly acted shudder.  
The other woman laughed at the comment.  
“I mean, with his looks he could have every woman in this room, but being the black sheep of such an influential family…” Before the woman could continue her commentary about this unknown man, Padmé had turned towards them.  
“Ladies, you are talking about my grandson here. I would prefer it if you would pay attention to what you’re telling others.”  
The faces of both women turned red, mumbling a quick “Sorry” before getting up and looking for another place to sit down. Rey had to smile at the response Padmé had given, before she turned away to collect some used dinnerware to bring it to the kitchen. While she did that, she wondered about the son the women had mentioned. It was the first time someone had actually talked about him. None of the servants had been talking about him and none of his family had mentioned him either. Was he really such a bad person that the women were claiming? So bad that even his own family did not dare to mention him?  
Rey had just left the room and had been so lost in her thoughts, that she had not noticed that she went down the wrong way. Somehow she found herself in the grand foyer, where a big staircase led to the upper rooms and the gallery. Rey sighed, thankfully nobody had noticed her mistake. At least she thought that.  
“Rey?” she heard Finn’s voice.  
Slowly she turned around and gave him a tense smile. “I am sorry, I was thinking about something and forgot to take care where I was walking…” She already wanted to walk towards him and he looked like he wanted to give her a response, when suddenly the door slammed open and the sound of thunder filled the foyer. Rey almost threw her platter away because the slamming startled her, but still caught herself, even though plates and glasses on the platter did clang together. Two people came inside fast, wet from head to toe. One was Poe, dragging a suitcase in, looking exhausted and like a drowned rat, the other one Rey had never seen before, but carried himself with much more grace than poor exhausted Poe.  
The dark hair of the man was clinging to his head and his dark eyes were giving her an intense look, which made her almost drop her platter for a second time. It terrified her for a moment. He on the other side looked annoyed and a little bit angry.  
Ben Solo had arrived.


	2. Ben

Dripping wet, the unknown man stood in the middle of the foyer while nobody dared to move. Only the sounds of rain and thunder were coming inside through the door which was still wide open. The coat of the man looked heavy from the wetness, dripping on the good carpet under him. Rey stared in awe at him, the view he was giving her: a tall, dark shadow with determined eyes that had found their way onto her in the next second. Rey looked quickly away and it was Finn who finally said something.   
“Rey! Uhm… Please lead Mr Solo into the Parlour, then get him a blanket and get him this wet coat off his shoulders… I will bring Mr Dameron to the kitchen, find Mr Kenobi and will find someone to bring your luggage to your room, Sir…”  
“Thank you, Finn.” the man said, with a deep, emotionless voice.   
Finn made a tiny bow, before he went to Poe and lead him away from the Foyer. Rey motioned in the direction where the Parlour was, which was right at her right and besides the Foyer. Usually the Solos would welcome formal visitors there to talk about their business. Thankfully, they had to light a fire in the fireplace in there today because of the dinner, so the room was filled with warmth when both of them entered. It was a small room with a desk, some shelves filled with books and a group of armchairs gathered around a smaller table. The man handed her the coat, before he sat down on one of the upholstered armchairs. For a moment Rey just stood there, looking at him, before she remembered which task she had to do.   
“I will be back shortly… Mr… Solo,” she told him and vanished through a hidden door for the servants. She ran down through the small corridors to the kitchen, where Poe had been seated on a table, a blanket around his shoulders, talking with Finn. Rey handed the coat to another servant who would care about this and put away her platter, which she had still carried the whole time, while she got another blanket, but before she vanished again she asked for two cups of tea to be made.   
“Who is that man?” she asked Finn and Poe while she waited for the tea to be ready.   
It was Rose however who answered faster than the two men: “That is Ben Solo, the son of Leia and Han Solo.”   
Rey raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? I heard some women talk about him earlier tonight… Is he really so bad as they say? Why has nobody mentioned him so far?”   
Rose looked at Finn and Poe. “Well, I don’t know if he is as bad as everyone claims… at least he has never been mean to any of us…”  
“But something has definitely happened when he was younger,” said Finn suddenly. “There is always a reason why people avoid someone. Since his whole family does not like to mention him either… it’s better if you stay away from him.”   
Poe said nothing about the matter.   
The mood in the kitchen had changed, since everyone had heard that Ben Solo had arrived and suddenly Rey felt so confused. When she took the cups of tea, she gave one to Poe and moved upstairs again, blanket tucked away under one arm.   
She entered the Parlour again and Ben Solo was still sitting in the armchair, looking at the fireplace at first, but then his eyes moved up to her. There was no movement in his face that would give away what he was feeling or thinking. It did not stop Rey from moving closer to him and offered him the cup of tea.   
It was then when she noticed a small movement in his eyebrows, a hint of confusion about the friendly gesture. With hesitation he took the cup.  
“Thank you,” he said before taking a quick sip, while Rey put the blanket carefully around his shoulders. He then turned his head a bit toward her. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new?”  
“I started my work here a few weeks ago… in March, Sir.”  
“Ah, that explains a lot,” he mostly said to himself.   
“Why?” Rey burst out.   
Ben Solo looked up to her, like he was not sure if she was a good or bad servant for asking him this question. He looked down at his tea cup again.   
“Usually the servants try to avoid me,” he explained and Rey thought she could hear a hint of sadness in his voice. Maybe it was true what she had heard or had been told, but the more she looked at him, the more she got the feeling that it would be best to form her own opinion about him. With his wet, dark hair and the blanket around his broad shoulders he looked a bit like a lost little boy. The complete opposite of how he looked when he had entered the Foyer...  
Rey had not noticed that both of them had been silent for quite an amount of time.   
“What is your name?” asked Ben Solo suddenly. He had turned toward her again, looking up. There was something in his eyes, that fascinated her for a short moment, but she could not guess what exactly it was, that fascinated her so much.   
“Rey,” she answered him, a little bit flustered. For some reason, this moment and giving her name away felt like a very intimate situation.  
“Rey,” he repeated softly and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. “I’m Ben.”   
She noticed how fast her heart had started to beat in her chest…   
“Ben!” someone else suddenly exclaimed and Rey winced before turning around to see that the voice belonged to Leia. She had opened the door to the Parlour, stood there in her elegant white dress, only the soft sound of the pearl strings attached to the skirt clattering and giving a hint of the movement that was suddenly halted, while Han was looking inside the room behind his wife.   
“Mother! Father!” Ben said, put the cup away and then stood up. “I am sorry for my late arrival, but the storm made travelling unbearable today… And then Poe’s car broke down.”  
Before Leia could give him an answer, she had fallen into his arms, hugging him tightly. Han followed his wife and put one hand on his wife’s back and the other on his son’s shoulder.   
“You’re here, that is all that matters,” Leia said and finally let go of him. She then turned around towards Rey and smiled at her. “Thank you for looking after him while he had to wait for us. You can leave now.”   
For a moment Rey looked at the tiny family, her eyes meeting with Ben’s, before she bowed and left the Parlour. The moment she closed the door to the Parlour, she leaned against a wall and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Seeing the three of them together had warmed her heart, but she also had suddenly been surprised by the sudden feeling of sadness… She also had not noticed how nervous she had gotten.   
Ben.  
He radiated something that Rey could not put into words, casting a spell on her in just a few minutes. His parents seemed to love him, so why were people speaking negatively about him? Rey was intrigued by this mystery and when she went back to work, she decided to keep an eye on him. 

It was early the next day, when Rey had to get up again and unfortunately she was late. She had been chosen to help with the breakfast for the Solos and she regretted it now that she accepted this, even though it meant more money at the end of the month. Maybe she should have taken a day off like most of the other servants that were working at the dinner last night, because who knows when the next chance for a day off would arise. When she had put on her uniform again and entered the kitchen, there was already a lot happening. Jannah almost ran over her, while trying to prepare the food to be sent up. Today the Solo’s would get served a simple breakfast: pieces of bread with eggs, beans, some sausages and bacon. A few sweet pastries would be served additionally. When Rey smelled the food she got hungry too and stole one piece of bacon.  
“You can’t do that!” said Jannah while looking judgemental at her.   
Rey stole another piece of bacon and smiled at her. “I can’t help myself that I am hungry!”   
“If you would be on time then you could have gotten some proper breakfast before eating the food that is not for you!” said Jannah, handing her another piece of bacon before she shoved her away from the plates.   
Rey moved away from the kitchen to the dining room for the employees, where Poe and Rose were seated, talking with each other.   
“I have heard that your car broke down last night,” Rey said when walking past him and patting his shoulders for a second. “That’s why you have been so late.”  
Poe scowled at her words.   
“What, really?” asked Rose. “What have you done again?! I had just fixed the motor!”   
“Sorry Rose, but driving in that rain last night was… problematic…”   
“I know what that means”, said Rose, sighed and then continued: “I will take a look at the motor again after my shift and repair it when I have my day off… Poe, you really have to drive more carefully.”  
Poe seemed quite smug than upset about ruining the motor.   
“Ben didn’t seem to be bothered too much about your driving style,” added Rey.   
Poe’s and Rose’s heads whirled up to her, looking with big eyes and raised eyebrows at her.  
“Ben?” asked Poe and seemed a bit shocked at the mention of Ben Solo’s name.   
“Interesting that both of you are apparently already on a first name basis,” commented Rose, giving her a suspicious look, arms crossed in front of her chest. Rey did not understand why both of them reacted strangely. She had already noticed last night that they were not too happy that he was back at the house, but she could still not see a clear reason why.   
“Well, kinda, I guess,” admitted Rey. “We talked a bit last night in the Parlour and he seemed quite nice…”  
“Don’t get yourself fooled, Rey.” Rose looked worried when she said it to her.   
“But why do you have such a problem with him?” asked Rey now.   
Poe and Rose looked at each other for a moment, before Poe finally replied to her.   
“There are some stories going around… about him doing things. Bad things apparently. I haven’t heard all of them… but he seems to be a very angry person and he likes to let it out at others.”   
“And apparently he has some talent for attracting girls, before he breaks their heart,” added Rose and took Rey’s hand. “Always remember, you are just a maid in this house. He is part of the rich family you’re working for. It is better if you are careful around him and it's best to stay away from him.”  
Before Rey could answer, her name was called from the kitchen and she had to leave, but she still thought about the things her friends have told her. Right now, she could not see herself falling for this man, even though she was convinced that those stories out there had not a tiny bit of truth in them. It felt like she had seen a completely different person last night, not what everyone said he was supposed to be.   
Rey had to trust her heart.  
But one thing that Rose was saying was correct: She was a maid. He belonged to a rich family. She had to be careful, because she had heard many stories from maids that lost their innocence to one of their employers and then were blamed for all kinds of stuff and then lost their work. So many girls had already lost so much because of a situation like this. Rey would not be one of those girls. 

Rey had been helping the other servants for quite some time in the dining room, offering food and beverages to Leia, Han and Padmé. Lando had also stayed overnight and was telling funny stories from his and Han’s past.   
“You know Leia, Han had never considered how to get off from that damn tower,” Lando had been telling everyone. It was one of the stories with a very mischievous Han as the hero.   
“I _always_ have an idea when we had our adventures, it’s just that you messed up things and I had to adjust to these messes!” exclaimed Han, pointing with a finger at Lando.   
Lando laughed and even the servants seemed to be amused by this exchange. “We both know who had to save you usually!”   
Rey loved to listen to the stories that Lando was telling. The friends had experienced so many things together, seen so much from the world. Rey was truly desiring this freedom. Through the Skywalkers there were able to see many distant places…   
Right when Han wanted to tell his wife how he got off the tower, the doors opened and Ben entered. Quite late for breakfast though. Most people on the table were already finished and servants had already prepared to bring plates back to the kitchen.   
“Good Morning,” he said, quick and short, walked to a free chair beside Lando and sat down. He wasn’t looking like a drowned rat this morning, with his hair combed neatly. It looked pretty fluffy and some strands of hair were falling into his face. He wore a three-piece suit, mainly in a very dark grey, almost looking blackish from certain angles. A gold chain was hidden under his jacket, probably a pocket watch and his necktie sat straight. He also knew how to carry himself: a straight back and shoulders, his eyes always looking at things in front of him.   
It felt a little bit like a dark prince had entered the room.   
Rey immediately felt flustered, standing close to his seat, trying to ignore the desire to walk over to him and let her fingers glide through his hair...  
“Ben, when did you arrive? I haven’t seen you at the party last night!” said Lando, while he patted Ben’s back excitedly. Ben almost spilled his tea that had been served to him just a few seconds ago.   
“I arrived too late because of the storm, Uncle Lando. It was simply too late to join everyone,” explained Ben with his calm voice.   
Servants handed him some eggs and fruits. Rey was waiting for him to call her, because she had the pastries on her platter, but there was no sign from him yet. So she stood there and observed him.  
“He may have arrived late, but what matters is that he is there and will stay with us for some time now,” Leia told Lando, who nodded. “And he will have another chance to join a party. In July we will have our annual Summer garden party and we will expect many guests as usual. I am sure Ben is already excited to catch up with old family friends.”  
Ben looked over to his mother. Understanding was in his eyes. “I know what you’re planning to do.”  
“I just think it’s time to think about your future,” said Leia, trying to smile at her son. “I know what Luke is planning to do…”  
Ben said nothing, but gave Rey a sign. She had been deep in her thoughts, about Ben’s hair, his voice… thinking about what Rose had told her. The other women from last night. Tried to follow the discussion now… She was caught off guard by his sign and immediately hurried toward him. Unfortunately, her foot got caught in the carpet, she lost her balance and stumbled. Together with the platter full of pastries she fell to the floor, right in front of Ben.   
Everyone looked at her.   
Quickly, she got up on her knees, starting to put the pastries back at the platter. “I am sorry… I am sorry…” she repeated, until she heard someone chuckle. Rey looked up and it was Ben who had to hide a big smile, while looking down at her.   
And with that she immediately felt horrible.   
It reminded her of her time in the orphanage, when older boys had bullied her. She had always been intimidated by them, even when she got older. Since she had started working at Alderaan House she had not felt this fear anymore, until now. A voice deep inside her said that Rose was maybe right. That everything she heard about Ben was real. Maybe he truly was a bad person after all and she had been blinded by his good looks. How stupid she had been.   
Rey picked up the pastries even quicker now, even though Ben had gotten up and wanted to help her with it, but she denied his help. She didn’t even look him in the eyes, when she caught the last pastry, put it on the platter and got up quickly.   
“I am sorry, it won’t happen anymore,” Rey told the people at the dinner, still avoiding to look at Ben and ran out of the room. She wished Finn would have been there to help her in this situation, it was the first major mistake she had made since she had arrived.   
Of course she would have to endure a long speech about how to behave as a maid in front of her employers and how bad this looks and that if it happens again, there will be consequences…   
But nothing would be worse than the shame she had just felt in the dining room. Ben laughing about her when she was lying on the floor. How stupid she had acted. This wouldn’t have happened if she would have paid attention and not getting lost in her daydreams about a man she had just met. Which was already confusing enough for her. She just wanted to work here and have a normal servant life. Not to develop conflicted feelings for the son of a rich family she had to serve.   
A son who was probably like all the other rich, young men: the worst.  
Rey felt the urge to cry.


	3. An Unexpected Answer

The days after the disaster at breakfast, Rey did what she was best at: becoming a ghost, wandering through the dark and empty corridors, simply doing her duty. She tried to avoid being in the same room with Ben as much as possible, could not look Leia or Han into their eyes when serving them and dinner was usually the only time of day when they would see each other and spent more than five minutes together in one room.   
It was not the best situation: Rey felt like she was not welcome anymore, the bright colors of Alderaan House turning into a dark place. She even had to cry after Mrs Holdo’s speech about her responsibilities as a maid and that her behaviour had been inexcusable. If it would happen again, there would be consequences. Rey had been lying in her bed, crying about every single word. Rose tried to cheer her up with some jokes and lots of hugs and Rey was glad to have her around.   
It was hard to avoid the Solo family in their own house, but just focusing on her work made things easier for Rey. It kept her calm and made her not freak out. But just because she was ignoring Ben, didn’t mean he also did. Especially during the dinners she notices his pair of dark eyes following her around in the room, sometimes while having a discussion with his parents.  
Rey was not the only one who noticed it.   
“He is looking after you each evening,” Finn said one evening, when he, Rey, Rose and Poe were one of the last remaining servants sitting at their dinner table downstairs. Finn tried to hide a grin, while he observed Rey’s reaction.   
She took a sip of water from her glass, trying to ignore the look Finn was giving her. “Don’t over analyze this,” she finally said, “he is probably still angry because I was not behaving as I was supposed to.”   
“Yeah, Rey has no time for those childish thoughts!” said Rose. “It’s better anyways that she stays away from him.”   
“I still wonder what he has done that makes everyone afraid of him…” said Rey while being lost in thoughts. It was still something that was bothering her. “Nobody seems to know why exactly it is like that, yet everyone here is working here longer than me.”  
“The Solos are very secretive about their son. Apparently all the staff was replaced years ago with some exceptions like Mrs Holdo or Mr Kenobi. Both won’t tell you anything however,” explained Finn. “Every story we hear comes from outsiders.”  
Rey raised an eyebrow. That was strange.   
“Since you mentioned it… I am interested to know more about him too,” said Rose. “Maybe we could gather a bit more information about him, don’t you think?” Rose looked straight at Rey.  
Rey sighed. “I would prefer to stay out of it,” she finally said after thinking about her reply for a few seconds. “I had enough trouble with that guy, I do not want this drama to continue.”  
“Poe?” asked Rose now. Everyone was looking at him, since he had been so silent during the discussion.  
“I am not amazed by this idea at all. God knows what you will find out,” he said, got up and left the room. Finn looked after him, with a confused look on his face.   
“Poe is right,” Rey finally said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. If anything you have heard might be true, we could all be in trouble.”   
Rose and Finn did not seem convinced about Rey’s and Poe’s concern and Rey had a feeling they would ignore it and move on with their plan anyways. She had a bad feeling about this. 

It was early May when King Edward VII. died and sent the whole country into mourning. Even Alderaan House mourned him, as it was mandated. The estate turned into a silent place in the meantime, because not much was happening, most meetings of the Solos had been cancelled and other business in and around Alderaan House had died down. This also gave Rey much more freetime than usual, which she used to spend time outside. One could usually find her taking a stroll through the high grasses, enjoying the view of the lake, glittering in the distance. She had to spend some time there soon she decided for herself. There was still so much to discover at the estate and sometimes she wished she had more time to explore. She felt much better in the gardens than in the old building. She had started to feel incredibly trapped inside Alderaan House and the mourning had made this feeling worse.   
Avoiding Ben had become much harder too, way too often they crossed paths in the corridors when Rey was doing her work. Sometimes, while changing bed sheets, she thought about finding another work, but this one was her best option out there. It was hard for women to find a well paid position or even work in a position they had always dreamed of. Being a maid was none of Rey’s dreams, but as an orphan there weren’t many chances left for her.   
So she had to nod at Ben when seeing him, feeling his eyes looking at her and even after her. Besides greetings, they did not exchange many words with each other. But there was always the desire for more.   
His presence made her nervous and she was glad when she could vanish behind a door, into another room or around a corner. She was not happy with the situation, but she had to endure much worse situations than this, she could survive this.   
One afternoon, after she was done cleaning rooms she was excited to have a small break, but Mrs Holdo had other plans for her.   
“Mrs Skywalker has asked for you to bring her up some afternoon tea. She requested your presence,” she informed the young girl. “She really seems to like you.”  
“I noticed that too and I wish I could spend more time with her,” admitted Rey.  
“I know,” agreed Mrs Holdo. “It’s sad that we are separated by this very thin glass window, separating us people down here from those upstairs.”   
Rey smiled at Mrs Holdo, before getting the platter with pastries, cookies, other sweets and sandwiches and the tea of course. This would be done quickly. Carefully she carried everything to Padmés room. Before entering, she knocked first, waited for Padme`s answer and then entered the room.  
Rey stopped suddenly.   
There was Padmé, playing with her grandson, Ben, a game of chess.   
“Ah, Miss Rey!” exclaimed Padmé, happy to see the young girl. “Put the platter over there, pour us some tea and then you can leave again.”   
Ben stared at Rey and she stared right back at him, before continuing her task. She put the platter carefully away and poured the tea in two cups. It should have been obvious that Padmé was not alone because of the two tea cups, but Rey had not noticed this small detail.   
Rey took a deep breath, took the cups and walked over to the table where the chess game had been placed. Looking at it, she could not make any sense of the chessboard or what was happening there. Apparently Padmé had to do her next move.   
When Rey put the cups down, Padmé got suddenly up. The woman was still quite quick with her old age.  
“Oh! I am sorry Ben,” she said. “I just remember that I had to get something from the library, it might take a while… Maybe Miss Rey could replace me for the time in our game of chess?”  
“But, Mrs Skywalker…” Rey started to say, but she had no chance to finish her sentence.   
“That is very kind of you, young lady,” Padmé added and had pulled her over and put her on the chair the old lady had sat before. In the next moment, the old woman had already reached the door. “I will be back in a few minutes!” Padmé told both of them, with a big grin and then was gone.   
Flustered, Rey slowly looked at Ben. “Your grandmother is quite lively, isn’t she?”  
“She is indeed,” said Ben.   
Silence fell over them.   
Then Rey got up.  
“I- I-... I should leave, I still have some work to do and I can’t play chess anyways, so I am not a good opponent,” Rey stammered. “I am sorry to have bothered you…”  
Rey turned around but before she could leave the room, she heard Ben get up and suddenly a hand on her wrist made her stop walking. She whirled around to him.   
For a moment they stood there, before they noticed that it was not very appropriate that he still held her wrist and he finally let go of her. Quickly, she corrected the sleeve of her maid uniform, while looking down at the floor.   
“If anybody should say sorry, then it is me,” Ben finally said. “I noticed too late that you were offended when I laughed about your situation during breakfast. That was not okay from me. However, I have to say I laughed because you are different than any of the servants. It’s quite refreshing and charming.”  
Rey tried not to freak out about his words. “Well, I accept your excuse. Just please don’t do it again, it reminded me of unpleasant memories.”   
“I promise,” he immediately agreed. “But additionally I want to invite you to spend some time together after the mourning.”   
Shocked, Rey looked at him. Was he really doing that? To a simple maid like her? Was he even allowed to do that?!  
“I… I would be honored, Sir, but I don’t think I will have much time off after the mourning is done, there will be a lot to do…” she tried to explain to him, even though there was a strange feeling in her chest, a desire to just say yes.   
Ben looked now straight at her, moving a bit closer. “Don’t worry, I have some power to say something in this House, leave that to me.”   
Both looked at each other again and Rey was only able to nod. When she looked at his eyes she noticed there was some green mixed into the brown color of them. His hair looked so soft, while it fell down in an elegant wave around his face. Again, he was wearing a dark three piece suit, which made him look so good…  
“When mourning is over, I will send a notice to you,” he said.   
Rey tried to find some words, even took a sharp, deep breath. “I am… already excited for our outing. Maybe we could see this as a fresh start…” she said, her voice shaking. “Unfortunately, I have to go back now.”   
“Of course.”   
Slowly, Rey moved away from him, from the gravitation of his intense charm, his eyes following her through the room. Before she closed the door, she peeked through the gap and saw that Ben had sat down again, looking much more relaxed than before, taking a deep breath and looking out of the window.   
Then she slowly and silently closed the door and stood in front of it for a moment.   
Realization then hit her.   
She had basically said “yes” to spend more time with Ben Solo alone. 

Obviously, Rey did not dare to tell anybody about the outing with Ben. It was better like that, because she feared that it would cause many discussions or even fights and she just wanted to avoid situations like these. She even didn’t know what she would say in any case, since she herself was still not sure about her feelings. There was still a voice deep inside her that was telling her to be careful. Yet, she found herself relaxing at Alderaan House again, not being bothered too much when Ben was close to her in a room. He tried often to be closer to her, but Rey had work to do.   
One morning however, Rey woke up to find Mrs Holdo in her room.   
“Good Morning Miss Rey,” she said. “You finally woke up.”   
Rey straightened, trying to hide her body with her blanket, confused why Mrs Holdo was there. Rose was nowhere to be seen. “Good Morning… what is the matter?”  
“The matter is, that the mourning of King Edward VII. has officially ended this morning. With that I got the note from Mr Ben Solo that he needs company for an outing today and has requested you.”  
“He did?!” Rey asked in disbelief, almost falling out of the bed. Something deep in her had been saying that he was only making fun of her, but apparently he wasn’t?  
Mrs Holdo did not look so pleased about the request and definitely was not happy about her reaction.  
“Miss Rey, I don’t know why he requested your presence, but let me tell you that this is nothing common. That is why I am talking to you in private. The other employees maybe won’t find this connection so positive and I think we both are old enough to understand why.”   
The chance to marry someone rich. To have a better life. Making use of one's position. Jealousy. It had been a good idea to not run around and tell everyone about this.   
“Anyways, you should be careful or better, just do this once. Please get ready now, he will await you in the backyard at the garages.”   
Rey nodded and Mrs Holdo left the room. She got up and quickly put on her best dress she had. There was not much time wasted, since Rey had not many belongings. In fact, she kinda felt sad when she looked in the mirror. Her brownish dress had a few spots where the cloth was falling apart, but she could still cover it with her old brown jacket. The colors of both pieces of clothing looked washed out, she did not have a cute hat or fancy gloves. Even her shoes looked like she had been wandering around earth for an eternity. Her hair had been caught in a tight bun at the back of her head as usual. Nothing stood out much, so she wondered why anybody would think that she could use her relationship with Ben to climb up the social ranks.   
Slowly she turned around and left her room. Quickly, she crossed the kitchen before anybody could ask questions and left the busy room behind. When she came closer to the garages in the backyard, she could see that someone was working on the black car, with four beige leather seats and a top over the backseats, in which she had arrived. It was Poe’s. He came into view, while someone else was rummaging inside the car, working on the motor.   
“Oh Rey,” said Poe when he noticed her. “Going out?”   
“Uhm…” Rey did not know how to explain this, so she simply nodded.  
Rose came up. “You’re lucky. I only have a few hours until my shift starts and I finally have to get this motor fixed.”   
“I am sorry that I had to get out that evening….” said Poe, who was tired of this discussion that had been going on for quite some time now.   
“He was doing only his job,” said Finn, who had joined them and had brought them some water to drink. “I mean, I agree he is a reckless driver, but that is the most charming trait he probably has.”   
“You’re such a traitor!” exclaimed Poe, annoyed.   
Rose and Rey had to laugh at the well acted, over dramatic, shocked face Finn was doing, when they suddenly heard the motor of another car. Everyone turned around to see that a black car, made for two passengers, with red leather seats stopped beside them. This was definitely the fanciest car Rey had ever seen and Ben Solo was sitting in it, looking over to her.  
There was complete silence between the small group. Rey turned around and told Rose: “I have to go now, maybe we can talk about motors a bit later. Maybe I can help you then with the problem.”  
Confusion hit Rey’s friends and she could feel the disapprovement, especially when she caught Rose’s look in her eyes. She gave them a tiny smile to communicate that she was sorry about this and then got into the car. The next second, the car started to move and Rey turned around to look at her friends, who were becoming tinier with every second. Rose was saying something to the boys and Rey immediately felt bad about the situation. Hopefully they were not too angry with her. She should have been more careful; on the other side Ben did not seem to care what this situation meant to her, so she turned toward him.   
“Please wait until I am alone the next time…” she started.  
“Are you so afraid to be seen with me?” Ben interrupted her.   
Startled, Rey looked at him. Did he just sounded like he was hurt about her reaction? She sighed.   
“Look, I liked your invitation as a friendly gesture, but we should remind each other that you’re from the Solo family and I am a maid. Mrs Holdo was already angry about your request about me. All I ask for is, to be understanding that this is not a good situation to be in as a maid.”  
Ben looked like he was thinking about her words, but did not give an answer.   
In silence they drove across the beautiful and lush countryside, where flowers were in full bloom and the green was refreshing to look at. The avenue leading to the estate had looked so different when she had arrived. She wished they could stop and take a break, but Ben drove them straight to the small city. Besides arriving here at the train station, Rey had not been there since her arrival and she didn’t know what she could discover here.   
After Ben had parked the car, they both got out of it and started to walk down the busy street of the tiny city. There were so many shops, cafés and much more to see. Ben had to stop at the post office first, so send a few letters away for his parents.   
“Well, what do you have planned today?” she asked, after he had come out of the office. It was strange to be with him at a public place and many people had already glanced over. While Ben looked like a gentleman, with his dark suit and wavy, black hair, Rey looked like she was the rat now, with her brown dress and jacket, cloth almost falling apart.   
She noticed that Ben had a hard time giving her a proper answer. Did he… did he even think this through?   
“You don’t seem to have a hat,” he finally said after he had looked after another woman, which was wearing a big sun hat, maids like her were actually supposed to wear a small hat with some flowers on it, when out in public, but Rey never had the money to get one. “We should get you one.”   
Shocked, Rey started to wildly wave with her hands. “No, that is not necessary. I don’t have the money for it…”  
“But I have,” Ben simply said and pushed her inside a store, selling dresses and all the other fancy accessoires a woman could dream of. Rey never had been inside one and her eyes could not decide what she should look at first.   
A woman walked towards them. “How can I help the gentleman?” she asked, apparently not noticing Rey.   
“We need a hat for the young lady, who is with me,” Ben said, pointing at Rey and the woman made a confused face. However, she did not comment anything about Rey or her appearance. It was obvious that Rey did not fit into the usual group of customers and without Ben, she probably would have gotten kicked out already.   
“What kind of hat are you looking for?” the woman finally asked.  
“Anything that might look good on her,” Ben said, sitting down in an armchair, while was Rey pushed up to a podest, in front of mirrors where she could see herself from many different angles. She could even watch Ben in the background, observing her.   
The woman brought her many different hats of shapes and sizes: a small one, perfect for travelling, big sun hats, fancy fascinators for evening balls. All of them were in different colors and so many accessoires were on top of them, sometimes she struggled to keep her head in balance.   
In the end, she decided to get a brown one, with a green ribbon, long enough that it fell over the edge of the brim and some pink flowers attached to it on the left side. She had also liked a big, yellow sun hat, with an enormous brim and fake sunflowers attached to it, soft tulle hiding a bit of her face, which made her look a tiny bit like a real lady. Since Ben was paying she thought to not request this one and besides that, she wouldn’t even have a dress that matched.   
Ben had observed her the whole time, but it had been hard to read his expressions. He was so intense.  
While the woman carefully wrapped and packed the hat away, Rey looked at the many dresses in the store. She especially liked one particular one: a dark green one, with golden embroideries, short sleeves perfect for summer. It looked elegant, perfect for a tea party in the afternoon. Of course it was way too expensive, so she turned away but then noticed that Ben already had stood beside her and had watched her how she had carefully caressed the green velvet.   
With an interested look, he stared first at her and then at the dress. Yet, he did not say anything and Rey was thankful for it. She felt a bit ashamed to even desire a beautiful and such an expensive dress. It was her business to work for it if she really wanted and not spend someone else’s money. She already felt bad when she looked at the hatbox.  
Both left the store and Rey was glad for the fresh air. The mood between them has been exhausting so far since none of them relaxed or could even find something to talk about.   
“We should eat something,” she heard Ben say. “I know a nice restaurant,” he pointed at it and Rey had to take a deep breath.  
“But… we can’t go there! At least… not with me!” Rey exclaimed.   
It was a very fancy restaurant Ben had pointed at, with ladies entering in their best dresses and gentlemen in their finest suits, even during a normal weekday like today. Rey suddenly felt fear creeping up and looked up to Ben, who in return stared down at her, his hair waving in the winds. It looked like he tried to hide a smile at her reaction.   
“Don’t worry. You know how to behave or you wouldn’t work at my house. If they have a problem with how you look they still have to say something to me and they won’t,” he explained, with his calm voice like the matter really did not bother him. Ben started to walk, but Rey stopped him.  
“No, I…” She had to pause for a second. “You already paid for the hat, which was generous, but I can’t accept you paying for me at such an expensive restaurant.”  
Ben sighed.   
“Listen, I was mean to you and this is my way to say sorry. Please just accept that,” he said.   
After some consideration, Rey just nodded and then both entered the restaurant. 

Of course people were looking at their table, talking about that young woman dressed in rugs, with this young man from that rich family living outside of the city. Rey was thankful that she did not embarrass him further, even though he had to help her from time to time which cutlery she was now supposed to use. Both of them were silent most of the time, although Ben seemed to enjoy observing Rey eating her food, being happy for the moment.   
And Rey still was happy when they drove back in the twilight. Maybe she was even smiling a bit at the trees rushing past them, watching the sun slowly go down.   
“Can we stop for a second?” she finally asked him. Of course he did, stopping beside a large tree, looking over a meadow full of flowers, the sun coloring everything in a bright orange. The air smelled sweet. “This looks beautiful,” she told him.   
“It does…”   
“I wish I could keep this moment in my mind for the rest of my life,” she turned to him, realizing that he had looked at her the whole time. “Thank you for taking me to the city… It was nice to finally see something other than Alderaan House.”   
“I am happy that you enjoyed it. Can we repeat it in the future?”   
Rey was taken off guard by his question. She immediately looked away, to hide that her face had turned bright red. During the dinner she had noticed that every time she looked at Ben her heart was beating faster and she feared this was the reason why she did not dare to talk to him too much. She had accepted his excuse, to not cause more drama between them. She also knew that this strange relationship with him could be a dangerous affair, but it was hard to withstand his charm. Her decision would be her own and only hers.   
“Yes, I’d love that,” she told him.


	4. Look What I Found

To admit it, Rey had found an unexpected liking in Ben Solo, which kept her up at night. Rose and the others were also suspecting less, because Rey and Ben had become quite distant in the following days after their outing. Their connection was way too scandalous and even Ben had started to realize it. So their communication was reduced to longing looks through a room, looking after each other on the corridors or seemingly accidental touches when Rey was serving breakfast or dinner.   
It made her feel miserable, because she wanted to know more about this young man, who had become so fond of her.   
The planning of the garden party also took a lot of Rey’s and Ben’s time. Ben had to help his parents think about who to invite, the decorations and the food. Rey and Rose had been chosen to finish the invitations, which was a lot of work as there would be many people invited. Family, friends, business partners, other high ranking, rich families. Some names she would recognize from politics and having business with the royal family. Even though Rey would just be serving on that evening, she would have never imagined to be close to these kind of people. Sometimes it felt like a dream.   
“Interesting,” said Rose one afternoon, while writing family names on envelopes, while Rey had been putting the letters in it.   
Surprised, she had looked up at Rose. “What is the matter?”  
“They have chosen some interesting families,” said Rose in a tone that indicated that Rey might find this information interesting. So Rey moved a bit closer to look at the names.   
“And what is it about them?”  
“A lot of them have daughters looking for a husband… Seems like there is more to that garden party than we knew,” Rose noted.   
_ Daughters of rich families looking for a husband _ , she repeated in her mind.   
Then her heart stopped beating for a moment, when she realized what this meant.   
_ His family wants him to marry someone _ , Rey thought and it was hard to keep a straight face in front of Rose. She had promised her to be careful around Ben and yet she had been doing the opposite.   
It should have been obvious to her that this situation had been bound to happen sooner or later.  
“Do you think they are trying to set up a marriage during that party?” Rey asked Rose. “You have been around longer at Alderaan House and I wonder if Mr Solo actually desires a marriage right now.”   
Rose gave her a suspicious look, but then turned to look at the names on the envelopes again. “Well, it’s a complicated matter in my eyes,” she finally said. “Mr Solo always attracted trouble here, so when he left for London I thought that is where he would build his own life, but since he has returned… No, I don’t think he desires a marriage yet.”   
Something in Rose’s voice made Rey not relax yet.   
“There is gossip however. Some servants have heard Mrs Solo and her son fight a lot in the past days. It looks a lot like both of them have different visions of Mr Solo’s future. There is also the fact that Mrs Holdo and Mr Kenobi are getting really angry when they hear us gossip about that. Both have always been close to the family.”   
Rey looked at the stack of envelopes, thinking about Rose’s words. She had not noticed that Ben had been fighting a lot with his family, on the other side she was mostly doing work around the house during the day and had only during dinner and occasionally breakfast and afternoon tea contact with them.   
“I wonder why exactly they are fighting,” said Rey.   
“Definitely not about you and you better do not wish for that either,” Rose said with a harsh tone. “Don’t get your hopes up, I know why you have been asking. He will marry a rich lady chosen by his mother, move to London and then take over his uncle’s business. Even he can’t change his fate.”  
Rey wanted to say something, but did not get the chance as Rose handed her boxes full of finished envelopes.   
“Just accept it as it is and now bring these boxes to Finn and Poe so they bring it to the post office in the city. I will tell Mrs Holdo that we are done with the invitations and in my opinion  _ you _ should be done with this whole Ben Solo business.”   
  
  
As Rey realized during the rest of the day, she could not accept the situation as it were. A strange feeling had become dominant in her chest, something she had never felt before. A feeling she could not really name. It was the strongest when she was in a room with Ben again, during dinner. Instead of wanting to be close to him, she just wanted to always stay at least one step away from him. He noticed her distance, but just accepted it silently.  
It was not until late in that night, when she realized that it was actually sadness she had started to feel. And a selfish part deep inside her did not want him to marry a rich woman so soon.   
These thoughts kept her up, while Rose had fallen asleep quite quickly. Rey decided to get up and get a glass of water, but when she reached the table with the jug, she noticed that they had forgotten to fill it up in the kitchen this evening. For a moment she stood in the dark and debated with herself if she should go down and get some fresh water, which was actually not allowed. Nobody of the servants was allowed to be out in the house at night, except for emergencies.   
Tiptoeing through the corridor on the servant’s floor, she tried to avoid the wood making any noise while walking over it. She was glad when she had reached the stone stairs, made for the servants to reach quickly each level of the house, out of sight for the other residents of the house. Here she had not to worry too much about making any noise and accidentally waking up anybody, but instead she heard a noise to worry about coming from the first level, where the personal rooms of the family were.   
Jug in one hand, the other grabbed the door handle to open the door leading to the corridor. For a moment she thought if this was a good idea, but she could not ignore the noise. Maybe someone has gotten into the house… She opened the door.   
Slowly she walked into the darkness, listening closely to the noise. It almost sounded like voices, but she could not hear what they were saying. She also had no idea where exactly they were coming from.  
_ Wham!  
_ A door close to Rey had been closed, which had made her jump. Suddenly she heard steps.   
Steps that were coming closer towards her.   
_ Maybe this had not been a great idea after all,  _ Rey thought, when the steps sounded pretty close. It almost was like she could even hear the sound of breathing, but she was not sure if she was just imagining it.   
Suddenly something passed behind her, that made her whirl around, but she could not see anything in the dark. It was almost like… a ghost was making fun of her. Were ghosts even real?   
Slowly she walked a few steps backwards, away from the direction the something had vanished… when she suddenly walked into someone.   
Almost dropping the jug she tried to avoid a loud scream, when a hand was put on her shoulder and turned her around.  
Ben Solo’s surprised face was luminated by the gentle light that a candle radiated.   
“I thought it was forbidden for servants to walk around in the house in the middle of the night?” he asked, but he did not sound angry at all.   
“I just wanted to get some water,” Rey started to explain. “But I heard a noise and thought someone had gotten into the house…. Or it was just a ghost.”  
“You definitely have a great range of imagination,” he said dryly. “There has never been a ghost at Alderaan House. Maybe you’re just tired.”  
“Yeah, maybe…” Rey said, before turning around. “I should go back to my room, before someone else sees me and I will be in trouble.”  
Ben grabbed her arm to make her stop walking away. She turned toward him, giving him a questioning look.   
“Interesting that you think you would not be in any trouble with me.”  
Was there a tiny smile hidden in the shadows of his face or was she imagining this? She just noticed that his touch suddenly felt very hot.   
_ Oh dear, _ she thought when she noticed that he was pulling her a bit closer and she became highly aware that she was just standing in a white cotton nightgown in front of him. Absolutely unacceptable.   
“Well, will I be in trouble?” she dared to ask finally.   
For a moment too long he held his gaze fixed at her, before he finally answered: “Actually, no, you won’t. However, I can offer you to take some of my water because I can’t let you go back with nothing.”   
She simply nodded, surprised about his reaction and followed him silently to his room. When she entered she noticed many things at once: it was a warm, welcoming room with many bookshelves full of books, a typewriter on his desk and even some painting leaning against the walls, too many to hang them up. With big eyes she turned to him, but the empty jug aside and walked to the shelves.   
“I have never seen so many books in my life!” she exclaimed excitedly.   
“You like reading?”  
“When I was able to get a hand on a book at the orphanage, then yes. I taught myself to read with the help of them…” Rey then moved to the typewriter, looking at it, reading some of the words. “You write?!”   
Ben was suddenly beside her, pushing her away from the typewriter, he almost seemed ashamed that she had found out. “Yes, when I can find the time. I have to admit I have not been inspired so much before returning…” he said while looking down on her.   
_ But now I am,  _ his eyes seemed to say.   
Rey took the courage to come closer to him, taking a better look at his dark eyes. There was some hint of green in them. “You are a strange but interesting man, Ben Solo.”   
Surprised he raised his eyebrows, trying to keep his cool in front of her. He raised a hand and touched a lock of her hair, loosely falling over her shoulders. “I…” he seemed to have lost his ability to speak.   
Yet, she could feel a desire between them in this moment.   
Then suddenly, Rose’s voice inside her head said:  _ He will marry a rich lady chosen by his mother, move to London and then take over his uncle’s business. Even he can’t change his fate.  
_ “I am sorry, I am annoying you probably right now,” she said and took a step back. Her sudden reaction to get away from him caused confusion in Ben. “It was even a mistake to come with you to your room…” She already wanted to leave, but then she heard Ben call out her name.  
“Rey! Wait!” She stopped at the door and waited for him to cross the room to hand her his jug of water. “You were not annoying. Not at all…. And you can always come back to my room to get some books if you like…”   
Rey looked at him with big eyes, said good night to him and then vanished in the dark to return to her room.   
  
  
A few days later Rey found herself besides Ben, walking down a path between endless meadows in the bright and warm sunlight, away from Alderaan House. From time to time she looked over her shoulders, clinging to the basket full of delicious snacks and refreshments for both of them. Mrs Holdo had not liked Ben’s request to make Rey join him during an afternoon painting on the outside. However, Mrs Holdo could not do anything against a request from one of the family members, so she had to send her away with the basket, to meet Ben in the backyard. Rey hoped that nobody else would see them leave, because it was already enough to prepare for a speech from Mrs Holdo again.   
The thing was, Rey really wanted to be close to Ben, who was carrying his painting supplies besides her. Being close to him also meant to break every rule that she had to obey as a maid in his household. One wrong step and Mrs Holdo could throw her out immediately.   
_ Is it really worth it, to follow my heart?,  _ she wondered for a moment.   
Soon, Ben had found a nice spot on top of a hill, in the shadows of a willow tree. They could see the glittering surface of the lake in the distance. It was an impressive sight, like it came straight from a picture book. Never in her life she would have guessed to be able to enjoy such a view. It was so different from the orphanage, which had been falling apart, surrounded by other bleak houses in the same colors, the sky ruined by grey and brown smoke coming from the factories, no real green or blue to be seen.   
“It’s so beautiful here,” she started to say, when putting a blanket on the ground, while Ben unpacked his supplies and put up his easel. “All of this belongs to you and your family?”   
Ben sat down beside her on the blanket, a package in his hands. “Not all, but most of it. The estate definitely goes down to Lake Naboo. We even have a small summer house down there.”   
Rey tried to look for the summer house at the shores of the lake, but she was too far away and before she could find it however, Ben gave her something.  
“After… that night I thought to give you a few books that you might like,” he explained.  
“Oh? Thank you?” Rey said and looked down at the pile of books, looking over the titles.   
_ Pride and Prejudice.  
_ _ Great Expectations.  
_ A collection of  _ fairy tales.  
_ “Interesting,” noted Rey. “Thank you, again. Maybe I should start reading one of them now, since I have not much to do while you’re painting.”  
Ben got up and started to prepare his brushes and colors, while Rey thought she saw the hint of a tiny smile on his lips. “Well, we could talk,” he suddenly said. “To get to know each other better.”   
Rey turned red. “But I don’t have much else to tell you. There is nothing interesting in the life of an orphan!”   
“There is always something interesting going on in someone’s life. I mean it’s already interesting that you, as an orphan, made it to Alderaan House. That’s already interesting enough, if you ask me. Oh, and you do not fear to speak to the son of the rich family so openly.”   
For a moment, Rey, still seated on the blanket, looked up to him and opened one of the books. “Mr Solo,” she said sharply. “We both know that this is actually a very bad idea.”   
Ben did not respond to that, but instead started to paint in silence. However, Rey was still curious about something and she took their discussion as a chance to ask about that.   
“I have a question about you however. So far you have been the mysterious, rich young man for me. Time to give me some character development,” she told him, which made him look at her with a confused look. He looked curious about what she wanted to ask. “Well, it’s no easy question. There are… Rumours. Gossip. You know, servants like to talk and all that stuff.”  
“Yeah I do know. What has that to do with me?”  
Rey realized how stupid it actually was to ask a private question like this, but yet she felt as if she now couldn’t go back.   
“Well, I heard this morning that… you and your mother are fighting a lot lately. Both of you don’t seem like the type for that, if I can be honest with you. They say it’s about that summer garden party.   
A pause.   
Ben even stopped painting and was just staring at the canvas.   
Then Rey added quickly: “I am terribly sorry when I asked something too private-”  
“It’s true.”  
With a shocked face she looked at him. She had not expected him talking so directly about it.   
“My mother wants me to finally marry someone. She invited a lot of families with young ladies as possible candidates. She thinks it would make it easier for me, but it makes everything more complicated actually.”   
“Why is it so complicated? Don’t you want to marry?” asked Rey.  
“I  _ do _ want to marry, but not someone I barely know. Someone who gets introduced to me by someone else… I think I could handle this myself,” he explained.   
Rey looked at him, smiling. “Maybe you will meet someone at the party you might like. You’ll never know.”  
Ben sighed. “I don’t know. I just know my mother is setting this up to keep me at home probably.”   
“It’s what mothers like to do sometimes… I guess…” she tried to smile at him, but he did not respond. She got the feeling that there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t.   
The silence hung heavy between them, while Ben focused again on his painting and Rey on her book. From time to time she looked up the book and stared longingly at the lake. She wished that there would not be this invisible wall between her and Ben, so they could talk more openly, be more… like friends. And yet, the word  _ “friends” _ felt so wrong while describing her desires. How much she wished she could just follow her heart for once.   
Time passed quickly in the end and Rey had enjoyed  _ Great Expectations _ a lot so far, when Ben announced: “Done!”   
Rey put the book aside, got up and walked to the easel to take a look at the painting, but she suddenly came to a halt when she saw it. She was basically looking at herself. Ben had drawn her in a dream-like state, book in her hands, daydreaming while she looked at the lake. Her hair framed her face in a romantic way as he took the freedom to paint her with her hair open. Her hand shot up to her bun, touching it.   
Rey then turned around to Ben.   
“This is… this is amazing,” she finally said. “But the hair…”  
“I thought you looked beautiful with your hair down that night… You should have more opportunities to wear it like that actually,” Ben said.   
Rey stared at the painting, trying to hide her red cheeks.   
“If you want, you can have it,” he added, oblivious to her reaction.  
“No,” she said while shaking her head. Then, after a short pause she added: “Please keep it. So you can always look at me with the hair open, even when I am not around,” slipped from her mouth.  
A pause again.   
“Was I correct?” he suddenly asked.  
“What?!”  
“Your hair.”  
Rey looked for a moment at him. This moment felt so forbidden and yet it was so tempting. So she just said: “Why don’t you check this yourself?”   
For a short second Ben looked at her, then he slowly raised his hands, moving past her face, behind her head to open the bun. She then could feel her hair fall out of it, over her shoulders. How his hands touched it, even played with it for a moment. During this, she did not dare to watch up at him, straight into his eyes.   
She then could feel his hands on her cheeks, carefully caressing them. He moved her face up, so she had to look at him. He did not say anything, but unspoken words hung between them again. An uneasy feeling came up in her stomach.   
_ This was wrong.  
_ She turned away from him, freeing herself from his hands. “We could be seen,” she reminded him.  
Ben just nodded, but did not dare to say anything, although when Rey looked over her shoulder at him, he seemed to be hurt by her sudden reaction.   
  
  
When they later walked back to Alderaan House, it was in complete silence. Rey had been carrying the portrait of her for him, wrapped with the blanket so nobody could see what Ben had painted. She would have to go with him to his room to put the painting there, which meant she could stay a few minutes longer with him; wishing that it was actually an enjoyable moment for both of them. Right now it did not feel like it was one.  
They entered through the front door, to directly access his room, but before they could reach the grand staircase leading to the gallery, Finn stopped both of them.  
“Sir, a guest is expecting you.”   
For a moment Ben looked confused, like it was highly unusual that guests were waiting for  _ him.  _ They had noticed a car parked outside in the front of the house, but both had figured that his parents had received visitors.   
“Who is it?” asked Ben finally.  
“He did not tell me his name, sir,” explained Finn, while gesturing at the drawing room.   
Ben moved a few steps forward, to take a peek inside the drawing room. He sighed when he apparently realized  _ who  _ was waiting for him. Rey also tried to peek inside, but could not see much, just a man hidden in shadows. Suddenly, Ben seemed nervous beside her, handing the stuff he was carrying to Finn.  
“Please take this with Rey to my room,” he simply said, before entering the drawing room, closing the door behind himself.   
Finn and Rey stared in confusion at each other.  
“Looks like he doesn’t want us to know who that is,” Finn commented.  
“Yeah…” agreed Rey, but did not say much more about it. It definitely looked suspicious.   
“That guy already looked like he meant no good business. Just simply that red hair…” continued Finn to tell her, while they brought the stuff up to Ben’s room. Rey was not sure what she should say about all of this, Finn had gotten the better look at the person when he had opened the door for him. Finn of course noticed that Rey did not want to talk about this, but noticed something else.  
“You are expected back in the kitchen later today,” he told her, when they put Ben’s drawing utensils back to the places where they belonged.   
When Finn turned to leave Ben’s room, he stopped at the door.   
“Oh, and when you come back in the kitchen, remember to fix your hair,” he said in a strange tone and then left.  
Shocked, Rey touched her hair which was still falling loosely over her shoulders. She had forgotten to put them back into a bun. 


	5. The Lake

“You did  _ what _ ?!”  
Somehow Rey had believed that after the picnic things would finally calm down, but Ben Solo had found a way to ruin everything further.   
Rey had been called to Padmé’s quarters to prepare everything for the afternoon tea with her grandchild and usually Rey was the one servant attending. The three of them had built a bond between each other. Padmé loved her grandson, but she also had found a liking in Rey. Afternoon tea with Padmé and Ben had become a relaxing activity on most days during the week.   
When she had entered the now so familiar room of the old lady, putting the tea pot, cups and snacks on the table, she had only found Ben, who told her that his grandmother was still downstairs, but would soon join them. Padmé was always suspiciously late or had to leave earlier, which often left Rey and Ben alone in the room. Before the picnic they had liked to talk a bit to each other, but after it there had always been an uncomfortable silence between them. So it surprised her when instead of sitting down and staring out of the window, Ben had turned toward her and took a deep breath.  
That was when he told her about his atrocious plans.   
Rey became angry really quickly, with every word he said out loud.   
“You… you can’t do this,” she said now, after thinking for a second time over his plans.   
Ben’s big plan was to stay a few days at the summer house that he had mentioned to her during their outing. He had planned to take a few days off, away from the stress of organizing the summer party, which was supposed to happen soon. And he wanted Rey to come with him.   
“You know this will cause so much more trouble for me,” she said angrily. “The picnic was already too much and what you’re asking now of me…” Rey let herself fall into one of the comfortable armchairs, besides the chess table.   
She had over the past few days come to terms with her feelings for Ben, which has caused her to be careful around the house. Yes, she liked him. A lot even. Yet it felt like this was only just a game for Ben and that he was not aware of the consequences she would have to suffer in the end. Maybe it was. When he had arrived the people were talking behind his back anyways. He had nothing to lose. Maybe he was just playing with her…  
“I know. I know I am asking much of you with this request,” she heard him say, which made her look up to him again. “But I am not happy here. I want to spend my time with someone who can distract me. I can’t think of someone else who should come with me…”  
“Is this a game for you?”   
Ben looked down at her, shocked.   
In the next moment, he was down on his knees, kneeling before her, his hands on the arm rests of the chair.   
“This was never a game for me,” he said. “I just thought… I really thought we could spend that time together. For one last time. After that… I… I will stop requesting these things that bring you trouble.”  
Rey looked at him with sad eyes.   
His eyes looked at her with desire and most importantly: hope. Hope that she would say yes. But could she say yes? When she had to listen to her heart, then there was the temptation to do so.   
“I don’t know… Mr Solo, you… I think friends are already suspecting that something is going on,” she told him. It was her who was seeing the looks Rose, Finn and Poe were giving her. The steady warning that it was better to not trust Ben Solo. “And what about Mrs Holdo… she definitely knows…”  
“I will think about what to tell Mrs Holdo. I will find a way.” He looked at her with a fire, a determination to definitely spend more time with her. Rey felt how heat rose inside her. “So… please…” His voice broke.   
Rey sighed.   
Her head was screaming at her to say no, but her heart was beating fast in her chest, telling her something completely else.   
“One last time,” she finally said. “After that all of this has to stop.”   
Ben looked for a short moment quite happy, but before he could say much more, Padmé joined them, looking too pleased at the both of them, when Ben got quickly up from the floor. However, what just happened would not be discussed for the rest of the day.  
Rey was still not convinced when said weekend had arrived.   
She had started to pack her suitcase quickly (not that there would be much to pack anyways) when Rose had left for her shift in the kitchen. Mrs Holdo watched her judgingly when Rey had climbed down the stairs. The three had figured to leave at the front, as Han and Leia would be occupied somewhere inside the house and Ben would have said his goodbyes to his parents already. What they did not know was, that he would take a servant with him. If someone would look for Rey, she and Mrs Holdo agreed to tell a story that she would visit an old friend from the orphanage.   
While packing she had wondered what Rose would think about her sudden leave. If this gave her more to think about her suspicions. Rey feared that things would have changed when she returned to the House. Too many thoughts like this had flooded her mind in the past days and now it was too late to decline Ben’s offer. She hoped the days would pass quickly and that Ben would rather be alone, out in the forests or at the lake.  
As she was thinking about it, she noticed that it would be the first time she could talk openly with Ben. There had been many things that had spiked her interest in him… maybe she would finally have a chance to find out more about him. It just felt like all of this came with a too high cost for her.   
She hated her curious mind.  
Rey hurried quickly out of the front door, down the few steps, walking fast towards Ben’s shiny, black car. It was made for two people, brown leather seats and an elegant design. One could open or close the cover and right now it was open so both of them could enjoy the morning sun while driving down to the house. When Ben helped her get her suitcase into the car, she saw that he had more stuff packed than she had… Probably his typewriter and painting utensils as she figured he would like to get a bit creative.   
As soon as everything was packed inside the car, she turned around to say goodbye to Mrs Holdo, but she had already left.   
Rey felt guilty at that moment.   
Yet, worse was the feeling when she drove away with Ben in his car, turning back to Alderaan House. It felt like the whole house was judging her for coming with him.   
Why exactly had she agreed?  
Was it because of the fear that if she would say No, she would get fired?  
Why did she feel so torn about this matter, which was actually bad for her?

The drive to the summerhouse was quite short, even though the street was not made for cars and Ben had to drive much slower than usual. Rey enjoyed the drive the most when they drove through the forest. Since it had gotten a lot warmer by now and the sun stronger, the cool air under the shadows of the trees was refreshing. She was still not feeling so well about her decision to come with him and even Alderaan House always loomed in the distance like a warning sign, while they followed the path to the summerhouse. It was like a ghost of a reminder that all of this was probably a bad idea.   
Yet, when she observed Ben for a short time, his hair messy in the wind, there was this other side of her that just wanted to be here. She hated her heart.   
Rey was stunned when the car stopped in front of the summerhouse, which was actually more like a cottage. Old stones were hidden behind rose trees and ivy. Many wildflowers and high grass were surrounding the cottage, a tiny path leading to the lake. From the outside it looked like Rey had stepped right into a dream.  
“Take a look inside, I’ll carry the bags…” Ben said, handing her the keys and started with his task.  
Rey walked towards the tiny door, put the keys into the lock and unlocked it. Slowly she walked into the main room: a tiny kitchen in the corner with a table for a maximum of four people to sit at. Around a fireplace were comfy looking armchairs and upholstered couches placed. With excitement, Rey walked upstairs where she would find a tiny bathroom, a bedroom for two and a much tinier room which was probably for kids or other guests. She guessed that would be her room. From here she could see Alderaan House at the horizont… From the big bedroom you could look over the lake, with the mountains in the distance. A view she would have preferred, but Ben would probably take the bigger room.  
“Rey!” she heard him call her, a bit surprised that he had called her by her name so easily and without further overthinking the choice of bedrooms, she walked back downstairs and saw suitcases and bags at the door. Ben stood at the table, with two packages he had just put down there. “Please come over.”   
She did as Ben requested of her, curiously looking at the packages. “What do you have here, if I may ask?”  
“I saw you in the boutique, when we were looking for your hat. As a thank you that you were coming with me, I thought to give you these as a present…”  
Rey looked confused at him and then grabbed the first package, opening it. She stopped breathing.   
In the first package was the most beautiful sunday dress she had ever seen. A dress in the colors of sunflowers, long arms and a high neckline, with a white underdress and a dream of tulle graced the skirt of the dress. A bit of white lace gave the dress an elegant appearance. This dress was perfect for important visits and special occasions. Ben even thought to add fitting shoes and a big hat with brim, perfect for blocking the sun.   
Speechless she put the first package away and focused on the second one. She had a feeling what she would find in there. And she was right.  
Ben had gotten her another dress. This time a much simpler one, in a deep green. It would fit loose on her shoulders and chest, with a brown belt keeping everything in place. The cloth was light, just as the one of the yellow dress had been, but the dress was more useful to wear during the day, around the home.   
“What is this?” she finally asked him.   
“You looked like you liked some of the dresses… they are not the exact ones from last time-”  
“Stop it,” Rey said. “I do not need your pity for being poor.”   
Shocked and surprised, he looked at her. He had not expected this reply to his presents and he had a hard time finding the right words for his answer.   
“I- I-…” he stuttered. “I am sorry if you think I pitied you that day. That was not my intention. Not at all. I… I like you a lot Rey and I just wanted to see a smile on your face…”   
Rey was still staring at the dresses in front of her, when it dawned on her that she had made a mistake in being so mean about his gesture. She did not dare to look up at him, in his eyes.   
He had just wanted to see a smile.  _ Her smile.  
_ “I am not feeling well,” she lied and took the packages. “I hope it is okay for you to spend the rest of the day alone…”  
Ben looked like she had slapped him. “Don’t worry, we still have two more days.” it was everything he said, before he helped her to get her bags to her room. In another surprising turn, Ben gave her the main bedroom, so she could watch the Lake later in the evening.   
She had observed how Ben had sat for some time on the wooden landing stage, reaching into the Lake. There was some sadness in his appearance, Rey noticed. She would have to say sorry to him tomorrow, but his presents, his behaviour… all of this was so confusing to her. It was not the man she had expected months ago, when she only heard his name being whispered in the corridors. There had been something attached to his name, something Rey couldn’t put a name on it.   
She had expected a cold hearted rich man, not caring about the people around him. Someone not capable of loving, a monster through and through. Yet, he sat outside like a little boy, with a broken heart. In the weirdest turn of events it had been Rey who had caused his sadness. But he had acted like a boy… buying her these dresses, taking her to the cottage… She was so angry at him for being so blind to the problems it would bring for them.   
She was afraid of falling in love with him.  
But maybe it was already too late.

Rey had spent a long time during the night continuing to stare at the dresses and fell asleep and woke up late because of that. When she got up she almost had put on her servant clothing, which she had worn on the way to the cottage… but then her eyes had fallen on the dresses and she decided to wear the green one, as a sign that she was sorry for what she had said.   
After she had cleaned a mirror in her room from all the dust that had settled on it, she took a look at herself in the dress: she felt like a completely different person. Ben had shown great taste in color, cut of the dress and did not make it look too fancy on her. It felt like she was supposed to rather wear this dress than the ones of the servants. Rey also felt very feminine, as the cut of the dress flattered her curves, something her usual clothing tried to hide.  
For the first time she decided by herself to leave her hair open, letting it fall freely over her shoulders. She knew he liked that a lot more than the bun she wore as a servant. Rey wanted to be that person in the mirror for him today.   
Slowly she descended the small staircase, down into the main room where Ben was sitting on the table, sketching in a sketchbook. When he heard her and turned around to look at her, he suddenly stopped. His eyes had become quite big when he realized that she was wearing the dress he gave her. He put the sketchbook aside.  
“You look…” he said while getting off from his chair. “You look amazing…” There was something else in his eyes, Rey could feel that he wanted to add more, but had to hold himself back.   
He pulled a chair so she could sit on it. When Rey was seated she looked up to him. “I was not quite fair yesterday. Take this as my way to say sorry.” She filled her cup with some tea and noticed that Ben was still staring at her. Without directly looking at him, she just said: “Enjoy it while I still allow it.”   
She took a sip from her cup.  
Both of them took their breakfast in complete silence and enjoyed the sunlight coming in through the windows. It would be a shame to let this day get wasted. So they later left the cottage to have a picnic together, while Ben would also be painting again.   
Rey enjoyed it a lot to walk through the high grass, touch the wild flowers and watched the bees and butterflies flying around them. She wished that she could live in this moment forever, take a bottle and put it in there to relive it again whenever she wanted.   
Ben found a nice spot, on the opposite site of the cottage, across the lake. When looking at it it looked like a perfect spot to create a romantic painting and she found herself looking forward to see his finished work. She unpacked all the food they had prepared together (she was still amazed that Ben himself had prepared the breakfast alone; usually you would think a rich man like him wouldn’t be able to achieve that) and after that she made herself comfortable with one of the books he had given her. So far she had not been able to focus a lot to continue reading due to work, but this weekend was her chance to finally catch up on that.  
If she would not observe Ben most of the time though, who was distracting her with his presence a lot today.   
“Why are you staring at me?” he asked at one point. “You know this isn’t very good behaviour for a lady.”   
Rey looked up at him. “Well and I am no Lady. Whatever you might think… I am still wondering why you’re doing all of this…” She gestured at the books and the dress.   
Somewhere in the distance she heard some rumbling, maybe a rainstorm was approaching.   
“We should go back to the cottage,” she added and got up, moving around to pack everything together again. That’s when Ben’s hand grabbed her arm and stopped her from doing so.   
She looked up to him and she had to admit that there was a bit of fear inside that she said something wrong. It felt a lot like yesterday’s dispute between them was not settled yet.   
“Maybe you’re not one of the Ladies that I am always being told to marry,” he started saying, but was struggling to try to find the right words. “But for me you are one and I won’t care what everybody says. You seemed happy being surrounded by the books. You seemed to desire to also have fancy dresses. It’s no pity I feel, before you come to this conclusion. It absolutely isn’t.”   
“Then what is it, Mr Solo?! Please, for once, speak clearly to me. I am sick of all the guessing.”  
“I fear Miss Rey, I might have fallen in love with you and that I just want to see you happy.”  
Rey felt nothing when he was done talking.   
That nothing was soon replaced with fear pretty quick however.   
“You… what?!” she exclaimed in shock. Ben was trying to hide his feelings about her reaction, but there was a spark of pain at her sudden, almost angry reaction. “I… Mr Solo, this is… this is not possible! Neither for you or me! We both know that!”   
“And I don’t care!”  
“But  **_I_ ** do!”  
Now they were staring at each other, Rey angry and Ben surprised at the turn this moment had taken. He truly did not seem to understand the underlying problem of what he just said. What it meant for her.   
Rey felt her eyes burn, she was close to crying.   
She could not believe that the first man to love her was someone she was not allowed to love in return.   
Although she did love him.   
“Mr Solo-”  
“Ben.”  
“Ben!” A pause. “We can’t… I can’t do this. I am your _ servant _ . It would bring disgrace to your family if you would marry someone like me. I fear that it might ruin my reputation as well and that I would never be able to work in a House like yours. Please understand this. I have always been struggling so much in my life and if you truly love me you would understand that.”  
It took a few seconds for Ben to find an answer to this.  
“I do understand. I understand your fear. But you also have to understand me. I do not want to marry a woman I barely know and that I have nothing in common with. Hell, I don’t even want to go to London to work for my uncle’s company! I want to write and paint all day, be inspired by you… having you in my life all day, as my wife. As my equal.”   
“Stop it!” she finally screamed and with the scream came the tears. “I won’t be your wife! Do not burden me with your egoistic behaviour! I also have dreams and you’re ignoring all of my pleas! Maybe, deep down in your heart you are still that egoistic, rich man everybody warned me about!”  
Ben tried to pull her closer, but Rey freed herself from his grip. When she looked up, she realized with guilt, that Ben looked hurt over the things she was saying. Maybe it was the best for both of them.   
“I tried to warn you to not continue with all of this and you did not listen…” Rey continued but it was Ben who started to talk over her.  
“Then answer me one question: Why are you here?!”   
Stunned, Rey looked at him, processing this question. She had thought so often about this but never found an answer herself. When Rey did not respond, Ben looked at her triumphantly.   
“I knew it,” he said, “you have no answer because something inside you wants to be here.” Was there hope in his voice?  
“No! I just came with you to be done with this!” she screamed at him, not being able to hold her tears back any longer.   
“Rey…” Ben said in a soft, whispered voice. He reached out to her, but Rey jumped and turned around.  
“Do not call my name ever again!” she screamed and then ran into the woods. She heard how Ben screamed her name, although she had forbidden him this. She blindly just took turn after turn, crying and confused about her feelings.   
What had gotten into him?! He was even already thinking she would become his wife! How crazy had someone to be… She did not want to marry and be caged into a House again… She had that all the time, most of her life at the orphanage. It was time for her to see more of the world and not doing the opposite of it.   
On the other side… he loved her.  
Rey started to move more slowly.   
Ben loved her. Loved her so much actually, that he just wanted her to be happy.  
And she had run away.   
It started to rain.   
His love did make her feel happy, but at what cost? She did want to be with him, but a voice inside her said that it would be wrong. What would Rose think of her? Finn and Poe? Mrs Holdo? What would his parents think if he wanted to marry a servant? The friends of the family?   
And he really expressed his desire to marry.   
Rey could feel how hot she suddenly felt. He loved her and she loved him.   
Again, she hated her treacherous heart.   
She stood still and tried to calm herself down. His revelation had been a bit much, but it had been honest. Something she owed him this honesty too. Maybe she had just tried to find excuses to simply hide her confused feelings, she was not sure.   
Rey turned around to go back to the cottage, it would be better anyways as the rainstorm was turning into a full fledged thunderstorm now and there was no end to the rain in sight.   
That was the moment she realized she had gotten lost in the woods. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am terribly sorry for having taken so long to update, but the past weeks were quite chaotic. But the good news is, I should have more time to write again! So I hope I can update more frequently again! Thank you for your patience!


	6. Moment of Truth

Rey had stood what felt like eternity in the small clearing, letting the rain fall on her. The steady drips had helped to calm down much faster, almost like she had been meditating. When the clouds over her heads rumbled and the thunder came closer, she realized that it was probably better to get away from here soon. The only problem was that she really did not know where she had come from and the thick treetops made the forest look much darker. Combined with the strong rain it was hard to see anything.   
A little bit of panic rose up in her chest, but she knew that losing her head would not benefit her in this situation.   
Maybe she could walk around a bit and maybe she could even find a path that would either lead her back to the cottage or Alderaan House.   
But did she really want to go back to the cottage?  
Her heart was beating faster at the thought, aching so much when thinking about Ben. It had not been a dream, he really admitted that he was in love with her. That he even desired to marry her one day. It had been too much for her.   
Someone like him, someone like her… It was literally impossible and would be frowned upon by everyone they know. Ben had told her that his mother was expecting him to marry another rich girl, that he would soon take over the family company in London… She was just a nobody from an orphanage, how was it even possible that a man like Ben had fallen in love with her? Was he even aware in which kind of situation he was bringing her? How much the position at his home was important to her? This was not a game.   
Rey sighed.   
Then she finally let loose the tears that had been burning behind her eyes the whole time. The worst thing about all of this was that Rey had to admit to herself that she also liked him. She did not dare to call it love though, still trying to shield her from any pain that might come with these kinds of feelings. Rose had warned her about men like Ben, she knew that Alderaan House had seemed afraid of his return, there was still a mystery surrounding Ben.   
A thunder boomed over her head, much closer now. Even the winds had gotten stronger and she could hear wood break in the distance, from trees that were tipping over because of the storm.   
Rey had not moved that much and now she was looking around, before she continued her walk. Her hair was clinging to her face, wet from the rain. Even her dress had started to cling to her body, making it hard to move over roots and rocks, the hem of it already ruined by mud. She was still sobbing, wishing to find a way out of here.   
For a weird moment she wished Ben would be here with her, leading her away from the danger, to the warmth of a fireplace.  
But here she was, alone in the forest, with no way out.   
_ All of this was such a bad idea,  _ she thought, _ I should have declined to come with him. This man only brings me trouble.  
_ Rey almost stumbled over some branches. Angrily she kicked after them.   
Then a new wave of tears was coming over her and she stood there, leaning against a tree for quite some time, before she calmed down again. She felt so cold.   
Continuing her walk, now a bit faster than before because the wind had become quite dangerous. This time she tried a new direction.  
_ It’s almost like this forest is trying to teach me a lesson, _ she almost had to smile upon this thought,  _ like it won’t let me out unless I have made up my mind, like in the good old stories…  
_ Not knowing how long she had been walking in the same direction, she finally stopped. Someone was standing in the distance, looking directly at her. It was hard to recognize who was there and for a short hopeful moment she thought it was  _ him _ .  
_ He has found me _ , she thought excitedly.  
“Ben!” she called and almost ran towards him.  
But then she stopped again.  
This was not Ben.   
She turned on her heels and then bolted. Running as if her life depended on it, she did not dare to look over her shoulders to see if that someone was following her. In a matter of moments her journey through the forest had become a nightmare.   
Loud thunder was exploding over her head, the rain turning into a real storm now. Multiple times she almost tripped over rocks, moss or roots, but did not bother much about it, because she just wanted to bring enough distance between her and that unknown person.   
It felt as if the forest had become this living and breathing creature, following her with its eyes everywhere, trying to catch her, being a complice to that person.   
The moment came where she could not breathe anymore and had to stop. She finally looked over her shoulders, but nobody had followed her. At least she could not see anyone. The sounds of the forest however still made her feel watched… She remembered that night in Alderaan House, when she felt someone move past her… it hadn’t occurred to her so far that these grounds might be haunted...  
She heard a branch snap and immediately she was running again. Almost she tumbled down a moat, but in the last second she was able to take a jump over it and avoid the worst case. Without looking back she ran and ran.   
Soon she had arrived at a big meadow; she had reached the end of the forest! She felt like crying again, but then she stopped running suddenly, as again someone was standing in the distance.   
_ Not again, _ was the only thought that crossed her mind.   
Had that person caught up to her finally?  
Rey had wanted to run away again, when she heard  _ his _ voice.  
“Rey!”  
She slowly turned her head and focused on the silhouette in the distance, which was now coming closer. With every step she could see more of him: his dark, wet hair clinging to his face, looking like the drowned rat she had met for the first time. The only difference this time was that Rey probably did not look better at this moment.   
Her heart was racing at the look of him.   
Once again, betraying her.   
Her whole body betrayed her when she started running towards him.   
She almost jumped into his arms, Ben holding her tightly, like he never wanted to let her go again. Like he had found the most valuable treasure. In the next moment he had cupped her head with both of his hands, cold because of the weather.   
And then he was kissing her.   
Rey was accepting it with a passion deep inside her, that she had not known before.   
He had been looking for her, had found her. It was the sign she had hoped for and in this long moment their lips were meeting, in the cold rain, she was able to forget all her worries.   
Rey felt home for the first time in her life. 

When they had returned to the cottage, Ben had made tea for both of them and made a fire in the fireplace, while Rey had gone upstairs to change the dress. When she returned, Ben was the one to go upstairs and change his clothes. While she waited for him, she hopped onto the couch, putting a blanket around herself, trying to feel warm again. When Ben finally returned, he took a seat across her in an armchair and both of them were looking at each other, saying nothing, hiding smiles like little children.   
Ben got up to tend to the fire after long minutes of staring at each other and Rey watched him carefully, how the light of the fire gave him a beautiful highlight to his profile. While he looked happy, she could also see a bit of worry in his eyes. Of course she had told him about the other person in the forest and she had noticed that he had closed the curtains on the windows downstairs. However, he had not commented anything about it and Rey tried to not interpret too much into it… he just wanted her to be safe probably.   
“What will we do now?” she finally asked, after she took the last sip from her now empty cup of tea.   
It took a while until Ben replied. “I will have to find a way to explain all of this…”  
“Will your parents like… whatever this is between us? I can’t imagine they will like a nobody like me…”   
Ben crossed the room and sat down besides her on the couch. He took one of her hands. “You would be surprised at all the nobodies in my family. My grandfather started the company from nothing, without much money in his pockets. My father was just a small working man… They can’t tell me I couldn’t marry a girl like you.”   
Rey thought for a moment about what he had said. “Is your grandfather in London? I haven’t seen him yet.”   
“No, he died early. I never knew him. But my grandmother, Padmé is always telling me many stories about him and I truly believe he would like you a lot…”   
“What if they are against us? I am sure a lot of people will dislike our relationship…”  
This made Ben think and for a moment he sat there in complete silence. She used that moment to lean against him, waiting for his deep voice to tell her that he had a solution ready for everything.   
“I think until I have everything settled with my family, we of course have to hide all of this,” he gestured at himself and her. “I won’t accept a No from my family… They never bothered to care about what I wanted. I never wanted to work for my uncle. I wanted to travel, write and paint… being inspired by a wonderful wife…” He had pushed a few strands of hair out of her face, lifting it up now, so he could look into her eyes. “Maybe we should just simply run away.”  
“Oh, Mr Solo, how tempting…”  
“Please call me finally Ben…” he said this with desperation in his voice.   
“Ben…”  
Then they kissed again, Ben pushing her softly back on the couch. His fingers caressing the skin on her neck, coming close to her. Even inside Rey a fire woke up, the desire to let him do whatever he wanted. She pushed against him, her fingers sliding into his hair. He still smelled like rain and forest. She could feel his excitement, but the gentleman that he was, he did not cross any lines. A hand on her hips maybe, a kiss on her neck, a moan… Until he had to pull away from her.   
Rey looked after him, as he left the room to take a breath outside, her cheeks hot with realization that both of them could do stuff that was not allowed for two unmarried, young people. How easily both could give in to their desires…   
Rey was doing exactly what she had feared the most.   
Ben came inside again, having cooled off enough now, but Rey could see that he still felt a bit ashamed about how his body had reacted to their touching and kissing. “I will prepare some dinner,” he finally said. “Let’s enjoy the evening tonight, before we have to go back tomorrow…”   
Back to reality.   
As it turned out, Ben was an excellent cook and he explained that he loved to cook for himself in London, even though his staff there was not excited about this at first. Rey loved to hear him talk about his life in London, hear him talk about the things he liked, how annoyed he was at working at his Uncle’s company. It truly felt like this small cottage was their home. The beginning of a family. She probably shouldn’t have that thought, but for once, she let her mind go to this place.   
“So, about your grandfather… You need to show me a painting of him, at your home there are so many… and I want to know more about him actually,” she said.   
Ben suddenly got up. “My grandmother loves to tell stories about him. He was a wild type apparently, having his own head and didn’t let himself stop by others. This cottage was built by him for my grandmother… so…” He had walked to the fireplace, where pictures have been placed on top of it. Rey had not bothered yet to take a closer look at them. When he came back to the dinner table, he handed her one of the pictures.  
Carefully she took it and looked at it. A young man, with a darker, dirty shade of blonde. His suit was not so proper as Ben’s usually was. A young woman was besides him and Rey could recognize the face surrounded by dark, curly hair. “That’s him? And the woman… is that your grandmother?!” Rey finally asked, after taking another look at Ben’s grandfather, who looked so in love with the woman besides him. It was obvious that that guy in the picture was not used to wearing these fancy clothes.   
“Yes. He had nothing when he met my grandmother. Just for her he created the company, but then he died before my mother and uncle were born. My grandmother had to lead the company alone for some time, even while raising her children, until my uncle was old enough to take over,” Ben explained to her.  
Rey smiled at his family story. That’s why Padmé had always been so nice to her and everyone else on the staff. She knew how hard it was to climb up the ladder.   
“You kinda implied your parents had the same situation… What is that about?” she asked.   
“Well, my father was an orphan himself once,” he said and Rey looked at him a bit shocked. Who would’ve thought? “He was working at many smaller jobs before he started work at my Uncle’s company. That’s where him and my mother met. It was already quite difficult for them to marry and I know for sure that some people are still talking about this. And me of course,” Ben let a strained laugh out.   
For a moment there was silence between them, a silence which Rey needed to think about what he had just told her.   
“I know what they talk about,” she finally told him and when she spoke these words you could see how Ben’s mood changed to sadness. “I heard some things too. From what you’re telling me… do you think your marriage is important to your mother because of the difficulties she had to face? The gossip about you and your family? Avoid this at all costs?”   
Ben had to think about that for a moment, then he slowly nodded. “That could be. I don’t know however why she has suddenly become so afraid. She definitely fought to marry my father and I always thought she would be much more open when I would marry.”  
“Do you think she will be very angry?”  
“I don’t know. There is a lot going on right now, so… I really don’t know…” he put his hand over hers and for a moment he looked very worried. There was more than his mother in his mind, Rey was sure about that. So she turned her hand around and squeezed his.   
It seemed to bring Ben back from some kind of trance. He looked directly at her.  
“What about you? You were not happy when I told you that I… and now you seem okay with it,” he said, genuinely curious about her change of heart.   
“It definitely was not easy at first. I was so angry at you. Like it felt like you did not care about me and my situation. This… with you… it could mean career suicide. If you can make a real career out of being a servant,” Rey said and then sighed. “I liked you the very first time I met you, not caring about the gossip and all the stuff floating around about you. I wanted to see the man behind all of that, that cold, rich boy image. I saw a gentle, young man and soon I realized that it was a man I wanted to spend my time with all the time,” she leaned a bit closer to him, her voice becoming almost a whisper. “My heart said yes to being around you, my mind not. But in the forest I realized… I wanted to be with you, no matter if it would cause trouble for me. Being in your arms was a blessing…”   
Ben was kissing her in the next moment again. She put a hand on his cheek and both of them looked at each other, deeply into each other's eyes, when Ben let go of her again.   
“Thank you,” Ben finally said.  
Confused, Rey asked: “Why?”  
“You are the first who saw the human behind all of the bad stuff.”  
Stunned, Rey just looked at him. It had never occurred to her, that everything she heard about him was bothering him so much… had he thought nobody dared to look behind that facade of his? When she had fought her own demons, did she make his worse with her behaviour? When she looked at him now, all she wanted was to be all over him, let even further go of these feelings that were holding her back. She wished both of them were just simple people who were able to do anything they wished to do, no rules, nobody talking behind their backs. It was obvious that they still had to sort out so many things, before they could be together. Even then there was still a chance of it never happening…  
Rey declared that she was tired shortly after their talk. They went upstairs and wanted to go to their rooms, when Rey stopped Ben from moving away from her. She pulled him inside her room, falling with him on her bed, kissing each other desperately, afraid of going back to their normal lives without each other tomorrow. Again, Ben made sure not to bring disgrace to her, respecting her even though Rey wished they could do as they pleased. She just wanted to feel his hands on her body, sparking more fire than through these cursed clothes.   
In the end, both of them fell asleep besides each other, living the blissful dream of this ignoring reality for the last remaining hours with each other. 

Early next morning, Rey was the first to wake up. Confused, she sat up straight, her hand brushing through her hair which had gotten tangled in her sleep. Her eyes fell on Ben, who was still in a deep and calm sleep besides her, remembering what had happened yesterday. Rey still couldn‘t believe it that both of them loved each other. Ben wanted to fight for this love and so did Rey.   
Yet, she still wondered how she gotten into this situation.  
When she had arrived at Alderaan House, she had just been happy to have gotten work, having gotten a chance to get out of that orphanage. She had been excited to prove herself and build friendships with fellow workers. Then Ben had arrived. Ben had ruined everything.  
Rey had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to explain all of this, to justify that she was willing to ruin her reputation for a rich boy. Would his parents let a marriage happen between them? As a servant she only saw them at the dining table most of the time. From the discussions there, his parents seemed charismatic, his mother strict but always smiling when her husband made one of his many snarky comments.   
Ben had been right though: Both his grandparents and parents had been in the same situation. They should understand. Why deny their son exactly what they had? Rey could only hope that she was worrying too much right now and that in the end everything would be alright.  
So she got up and dressed herself in the other room, then walked downstairs to prepare breakfast before they would have to get ready to return to Alderaan House.   
Of course nothing had happened between the two last night, even though Rey could feel the desire in her stomach and the fire in Ben‘s eyes. But sleeping together in the same bed was already bad for her. If someone saw them, Rey would have been disgraced forever, as a maid, as a future wife, as a woman.  
She had been setting up the table, deep in worrying thoughts, when she noticed that Ben had come down the stairs too. He looked tired, his shirt sitting askew, hair chaotic. Had he been still awake when Rey had fallen asleep? Did he have the same thoughts as her?  
When he noticed she was wearing her maid dress again, he stopped, looking sad.   
„Good Morning… the dream is over I guess?“ he said, disappointed, and sat down at the table.  
Rey walked towards him, carefully putting her fingers on top of his hair, trying to make it look not as wild. He enjoyed her touch, leaning into her hand.   
„I think so. But I want to believe that everything will be okay. I hope so much. I feel like I truly found home with you. I do not want to lose all of it again,“ Rey told him, her voice just a whisper.  
Suddenly, Ben pulled her closer, hugging her tightly around her hips, his face pressing against her stomach. „Home is a wonderful word for my love,“ he said with a breaking voice. Then she heard him sobbing.  
Shocked, she looked down, wondering why exactly he was crying. She debated with herself to ask him, but she decided it was better to leave him alone. He would tell her his thoughts when he was ready. So she just continued to caress his head.  
However, Rey could feel that something was wrong.

They packed their suitcases in silence after breakfast. Ben had been shy around her, after he had calmed down. It was the kind of behaviour which made her feel insecure about how she should talk to him. The crying had been strange. Not that Rey thought it made him less of a man (she was actually happy he would show more and more emotions around him), but it felt like something was bothering him too much. Something that had kept him awake at night. Was it his worry about his parents? He had actually seemed quite confident to face them. Rey had the feeling she was missing a piece of the puzzle called Ben Solo.  
She was waiting at the door in front of the cottage, waiting for him, dreading the return to Alderaan House. Ben closed the door behind her and after a short moment of silence and Rey already wanting to walk towards the car, he suddenly grabbed her, pushing her against the door, wood creaking, shaking under their impact and kissed her passionately. Rey returned this kiss, letting him push, feeling his whole body against hers… his hands were discovering the shape of her body, coming dangerously close to her most sensitive body parts… A moan escaped her. She would have not bothered if he would have taken her right there. Only the walls of the cottage keeping this secret. Instead, he let go of her, looking into her eyes.   
„Whatever happens when we return, promise me to always trust me,“ he whispered.  
„I will,“ she whispered back, without hesitation.  
Both infused with optimism, drove back to the grand building looming in the distance. The weather had gotten better, but the clouds were still grey and low. The wind was also a bit cooler, but it did not bother Rey. It was the perfect weather to calm down and to return to reality.  
And reality hit them quickly when Ben turned into the small path leading to the plaza in front of Alderaan House. Two people were standing there on top of the stairs, in front of the entrance and when they came closer, Rey recognized Leia and behind her Finn.  
„Mother?“ Ben asked, as soon as he parked the car and gotten out of it.  
„I saw you driving up the way…“ for a short second her eyes looked over Rey, almost wanting to ask a question, but then remembering why she actually was here. „We got the news that your Uncle will attend our summer party and there is a lot we need to talk about.“ Again, Leia looked at Rey. „In private, with your father.“  
Leia told Rey and Finn to bring Ben‘s suitcases to his room. They looked at each other longingly for one last time, before their paths split again.  
Finn had noticed the look. „What was that?“  
„What?“ Rey asked, while they moved upstairs.  
„I saw how both of you were looking at each other. What exactly did you both do…“  
„It‘s none of your business.“ she simply commented.  
„Oh,“ Finn then said, letting out a defeated breath. „It‘s worse than we thought.“  
Rey stopped. „What do you mean?“  
Finn did not want to talk so openly in the corridors, so they put the suitcases in Ben‘s room and then split. Finn was getting Rose while Rey carried her bags, including her new dresses upstairs to her room.  
She sat down on her bed, waiting for the other two, who took their time. She jumped, when Rose jerked the door open.  
„What have you done?!“ Rose was almost screaming.  
By now, Rey was on her feet again, looking shocked at this strong reaction of her friend. Finn was standing behind Rose, looking worried. He closed the door.  
„I did not do anything! Nothing happened! I was just a maid, helping him…“  
„Young lady, I think everyone in this room knows you‘re lying. It's obvious you like him and that you fell for his pair of pretty eyes…. I can‘t believe it.“ Rose seemed exhausted by the realization.  
Rey felt the urge to cry, but did not give into it. „And why does it bother you? Maybe you worry a bit too much. Maybe he is not that rich monster you try to turn him into.“  
Rose needed a moment to recover from this answer. Finn put a hand on her shoulder, to calm her down a bit, but she shook him off.  
„Rey, he  _ is exactly the monster I say he is. _ “  
A moment of silence. All three of them just looked at each other, not saying a word. A bad feeling was growing inside Rey. She did not want to ask, but she did it anyway.  
„What do you mean?“  
Rose seemed now a bit shy, struggling to find words.  
„We noticed a bit earlier that there might be…  _ something _ between the two of you. I told you we heard a lot about him and so we… we did some investigations…“  
„And you did not bother to tell me that earlier?!“ Rey almost screamed.  
„We realized we should have done that when you went with him, way too late we noticed you were gone… and…“ Rose looked up to Finn, but even Finn seemed to be afraid to say something.  
Rey felt suddenly unwell.  
They had  _ found something _ .  
She sighed and then asked: „Well… what did you find out?“  
Again, the room was filled with silence. Way too long.  
„Rey, please, whatever we will tell you now… don‘t be mad at us, we just wanted the best for you. We never thought to find…“  
„Say it, Rose.“  
„Ben Solo… he is a  _ murderer _ .“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we're halfway through with a major cliffhanger kicking off the second half of the story. 
> 
> Thank you very much if you have continued reading until now and I hope you have enjoyed it so far! Here is to hoping you will like the second half too, y'all are not ready.


	7. The Bad Guy

The reaction to the news had been violent.   
Rey screamed “No! It’s not true!” at her friends and threw them out of the room. They probably had to go back to their work soon anyways, she did not care. After she had slammed the door shut in front of their faces, giving them not one chance anymore to say anything, she turned around and kicked her suitcase, which flew open and scattered her new dresses on the floor.   
In the next moment, she had fallen onto her bed, crying and sobbing so hard, not being able to stop so soon. So many thoughts were racing through her head. She could not believe that she had been so stupid… it had become obvious to her that something was bothering Ben… but was it really because he murdered someone?!   
Remembering what the people had said about him made the situation for her even worse. Strangers had said he had no heart and was the black sheep of the family. That he was letting his anger out at others, as Rose had once told her. He was imitating indeed, but he never raised against her or witnessed him hurting someone else. She remembered yesterday evening, his hands carefully placed to not accidentally touch her inappropriately. They had fallen asleep together and Rey still woke up in his arms and had felt so safe since… she couldn’t remember a previous time she had felt so safe at all.   
Rey took her pillow and screamed into it, still trying to calm down, tears still flowing.   
Had he put up an act? Had that voice inside her been right, that she was just a thing he was playing with? So many things went through her head, overanalyzing all the moments they have spent together. Aside from the trip to the cottage, she never had noticed that something was off. Ben seemed like a kind person, ready to give his love to someone else.   
Rose returned later that day, when it was already dark outside, probably quite late too. Rey had not been able to sleep, but when her friend had entered the room, she acted like she was asleep. Trying to form an excuse, trying to wake her up, Rose stood for a moment besides Rey’s bed. When the young woman realized that Rey was not reacting at all, there was a short moment of silence, then she just whispered a simple “I am so sorry,” before she got ready for bed herself.   
It felt like the time passed very slowly and it took an eternity until Rey was sure that Rose had finally fallen asleep, noticing the calm and deep breaths. Slowly she got up, sneaking out of the room. She even almost stumbled over her suitcase and the dresses, still scattered around the floor. Taking a deep breath when she had arrived at the staircase, she fixed her hair a bit, wondering if she would look as horrible as she felt.   
Rey could lie all night awake in her bed, wondering about everything that had been said and done, but nothing would provide a better answer than Ben’s own words.   
She had to talk to Ben immediately.   
However, when she arrived at the door, she stopped for a moment before knocking on it. Fear inside her heart had gotten stronger again. What if everything was true? Would her new dreams be crushed immediately before they even had the chance to flourish?  
Suddenly the door was opened and Ben was staring down at her.   
There was surprise in his eyes, as if he had not expected her, but someone else.   
“Rey?” A shiver went down her spine hearing her name from his lips. “What are you doing here?”  
“I… I…” She stuttered, not being able to find the right words, she looked down, her hands fists shaking with frustration.   
“You shouldn’t be here tonight actually.”  
Her head jerked up to look at him again.   
“What? It’s in the middle of the night, it’s not as if you could expect visitors at this late hour!”, she said.   
Ben suddenly took her hand and pulled her into his room. “We should make sure nobody hears us,” he said. “Well, things have gotten complicated. Everything…” He turned away, crossing the room, looking exhausted.   
“What…”  
“We have to talk to my parents soon,” he told her, hands on his hips, fearing whatever her reaction might be.   
Stunned, Rey stood there looking at him. “We can’t do that.” She finally said, hearing how he drew in a sharp breath. Then he strode towards her, taking her hands.  
“Why? I thought we had sorted everything out in the cottage… That we were ready to face all the bad things that would come our way,” he almost whispered.  
“I know what you did and you were not honest with me…”   
“What do you mean?”  
“Oh, she means that one thing you did… how was it called? Murdering someone?” said a third voice in the room.   
Both spun around, looking at the man leaning against the bookshelves, smirking. His red hair stood out, even in the low light. Somehow he had sneaked into the room, although Rey had no idea how he had done that. Was he the one Ben had waited for?  
“Hux,” growled Ben, pushing Rey behind him. “It’s a lie.”   
The man came closer to the two of them. “We both know it isn’t. You killed our beloved Mr Snoke years ago. I know that you hated him.”  
“It was an accident,” Ben said with a shaky voice. “It was a different time and I made many mistakes. One of them was befriending you and getting into Snoke’s shady stuff.”   
Hux ignored him completely, although there was a small hint that he did love to hear Ben struggle so much and turned towards Rey. Before Ben could react, he had grabbed Rey’s arm and pulled her closer. “Your friend over here is so good at acting! Your other friend liked the story I had told her so much, especially since it’s obvious that she does not approve of you and him…” He put a hand on her cheek and Rey did not dare to move one bit, feeling like she had been caught in a spider web. “And I worry too, when I saw you two at the cottage, I thought: that poor girl! Now he has moved on to break her heart!”   
“It’s enough!” hissed Ben and pushed Hux away from Rey. “What do you want?!”   
“You know what I want and I still don’t have it in my hands. Maybe I should take that girl instead.”  
Rey tried to calm her nerves with a deep breath.   
“Over my dead body,” she heard Ben say. Suddenly Rey felt the heat rise in the room.  
“Maybe that would be a good idea,” Hux continued to spur Ben.  
Rey could feel that Ben got angrier with every word that Hux spoke, so she took his hand and squeezed it. It apparently helped to calm him down.  
“Oh how cute you two are,” Hux said. “That girl doesn’t know what she is getting into with you and yet she still stands by your side. I hope she knows a simple maid as she will never have a chance of marrying you. A marriage like that wouldn’t be so good for your family, would it? Ah, young love, so naive.”  
“It’s none of your business,” Rey hissed at him.  
“I am just trying to help. If your lover doesn’t give me what I requested, I will tell the whole world that he is a murderer. Well, maybe I will now add that he has disgraced you. The people will  _ love this story! _ ” Hux laughed.  
“Leave now before I will commit a real murder,” Ben warned him.   
With a big smirk, Hux turned around. “Time is running out my friend!” Then he left the room, vanishing in the darkness of the corridor.   
So, that one evening… someone else had been in the corridor. The person in the woods. All of them had been Hux, Rey finally realized.   
Silence had settled in the room, between her and Ben.   
Slowly, she turned towards him.   
“What have you done?” she finally asked, her voice shaking. “Why is this person visiting you in the middle of the night?! Why is he telling Rose that you’re a murderer? What did you promise him? What…” Rey struggled to continue, since she had to fight tears again. “What are you hiding?!”   
_ There is fear in his eyes,  _ she noticed as he also turned towards her.  _ He seems to hate that guy but why do I feel like this horrible person is speaking at least a bit of truth?!  
_ “I…” Ben started, but then he stopped. “I made a horrible mistake when I was younger.” 

Rey had seated herself in one of the armchairs, while Ben had walked over to a cabinet to get something to drink. He handed her a glass with some alcoholic beverage. When Rey took a sip from it, it felt like she was drinking pure fire. She tried to avoid shuddering, but it really wasn’t a pleasant taste at all. Keeping the glass in her hands, she looked over to Ben, who was still standing, taking one tiny sip after another, as if he would gain more courage because of the alcohol.  
Curiosity had been sparked by the strange visit of the man called Hux. Ben still seemed to be shaken by him and that Rey had witnessed everything. It was obvious they had history together and she wondered what had made them meet. However, she still could feel fear inside her, that she was about to find out horrible things she did not want to hear. The whole Murder thing was still etched into her mind…  
“I don’t know what to say… how all of this happened. I feel I am pulling you into something that you should rather stay away…” he finally told her.  
Rey sighed.   
“Just be honest Ben. If you love me, honesty should always come first between us. You said I should trust you no matter what and I want to try, but when you keep secrets from me it’s hard to do just that.”   
Ben looked at her for a moment, before he put his glass away.  
“I was in a dark place when I was younger. There was always this fear that nobody understood me, forcing me to follow into the footsteps of my uncle. Don’t get me wrong, my uncle loves his job and he was made for it, but I never felt like the company was my ideal future. So I tried to rebel and tried to find friends. Obviously I found the wrong friends.”   
Rey noticed the regret, but she could understand his feelings. At the orphanage she also had tried desperately to find friends, but a lot of orphans just tried to apply hierarchies amongst each other or they were adopted sooner or later and left. It was easy to meet the wrong people and even Rey had made experiences with that.   
“There is no true friendship amongst all these rich families and trying to become friends with the working class was not an option, unfortunately, they obviously have trust issues with someone like me. I felt lonely… until I met Hux,” Ben took a deep breath. “We became friends quickly, at least I thought that. What I did not notice in the beginning was the situations he got me into. Stealing for fun, becoming mean towards other people. I got in more and more fights with my family and stayed away for days. One day, Hux introduced me to his weird circle of what you can’t really call friends I guess… That’s where I met Snoke, great at manipulating, excited to work with someone who had ties to the Skywalkers. I still don’t know if they hoped to gain some access and power in the company from me...”   
Ben paused again, before he continued: “Hux and me would spend a lot of time in the evening and even during nights, going to the town, getting drinks at bars and flirting with all ladies that were available… Hux likes the companionship of ladies a lot. These weren’t my brightest moments.”  
Rey remembered that there were particular rumours about Ben’s behaviour towards women. “I… I heard some rumours to be honest. That you were just out to break the hearts of young girls. I am afraid to ask… but…” She felt tears sting in her eyes, because she was not sure if she wanted to hear an honest answer. The worst was the question popping up inside her head:  _ Am I next on your list?  
_ Ben bit his lip as he could feel Rey’s pain and sadness.   
“Well, I have to admit that I tried to be like Hux. I baited many girls into liking me… The attention felt great, but also at the same time it did not. It was those many moments in these bars when I thought if what I was doing was right. Hux loved to leave with the girls, have his fun and bring shame to these girls.”  
Rey’s heart beat faster. “Did you…?”  
“No!” he immediately said after he realized what she had intended to ask him and shook his head wildy. “I never could bring these girls with me to bed!”  
Ben’s face turned red. If the discussion wouldn’t have been so serious, Rey would have laughed. The topic right now seemed to stress him a lot.   
“Good lord,” he said, sounding exhausted and defeated.   
Rey decided to shift from this topic away, back to the original one, which was actually just as awful. “And why does he say you’re a murderer?”  
Ben sighed, looked down at his glass, which he noticed was empty and looked for a short second disappointed because of that. Then he finally decided to speak about the most crucial part of his story.  
“It was a rainy night when I tried to speak to Hux and Snoke about wanting to leave. Enough was enough. A fight started between the three of us and during this, Snoke fell down the stairs. I have no idea how exactly it had happened, because the moment was chaotic. I am not even sure I touched Snoke at all… Hux immediately started to blame me for the accident, blackmailing me to work for him and when I wouldn’t do what he told me, he started to tell people in the town rumours about me.” At least she knew now why everyone had been whispering when he had arrived. Why Rose was so worried. “I then had to leave for London, so everything could calm down a bit, at least I hoped so. When I returned I met you… and I wanted him gone. He wants me to buy his silence now, with such a high sum, that I can’t get it from any bank without anybody noticing that a lot of money would be missing.”   
Rey downed the rest of her drink in one go.   
Then she put the glass away.  
“This….” she wanted to say something really mean about Hux, but she was so angry that she could not find the right words for someone like him. She hated him for bringing so much sorrow for Ben, ruining his good heart.   
In the next second, Ben was besides her, kneeling in front of her, taking her hands.   
“I am sorry when… when by telling you all of this I bother you too much,” he said and because of his shaking voice she noticed that tears were falling down his cheeks. “I wanted to change for you, so we would only have to worry about my family, but everything got so much worse over the short amount of time…”   
“Ben, please stop.”   
He did, although he looked afraid of what she would say next.  
“Don’t make yourself feel bad about the situation. It’s not your fault that this slimy idiot sneaks at night into your house to bother you. I was afraid to hear the truth, the truth that I might have fallen for a horrible person, yes. After everything I have heard now, I think everyone was wrong about you. Even me. I fell for a wonderful man, with a big heart and so much love… overwhelming love to give. Everyone makes mistakes and you’re just human as I am. I want to fight for this love. Your love.”  
She squeezed his hand and he fully let go of his tears, while kissing her hands so gently. She had a hard time keeping herself together, as she felt a tiny bit of arousal from this gesture. He buried his face into her lap, crying for many long minutes. Rey just sat there, letting him do it until he felt better, caressing his head.   
She hated seeing him like this. So broken.  
There was a lot of determination inside her. Hux had broken this man in front of her and he needed help. She wanted to help him, become this free man he once was. It meant that she would have to teach him to finally listen to his heart.   
And more importantly, she needed to listen to her own heart the most.  
“We will find a way out of this,” Rey finally told him in a soft voice, sounding confident.

Later that evening she returned back to her room. It had become late when she had left Ben’s room, but he wouldn’t let go of her sooner. They had exchanged too many passionate kisses, to many forbidden touches… The situation had ignited so much fire in them, it had been a difficult decision to finally split for the night. Yet, she felt the most confident in months, since she had arrived here. She wanted to be with Ben and nobody would stop her to fight for this wish to come true. The next few days they would for sure find a way to get Hux away from Ben.   
Still lost in her thoughts, she closed the door to her room after she had entered, just to flinch when she noticed that Rose was sitting on her bed, staring at her.   
“Where have you been?” asked Rose, while she lightened up a candle.  
Rey was not sure what she should say. The truth? Should she lie? Telling her friend a lie felt not right to her…  
“You know when Mrs Holdo finds out that you’re sneaking out at night…” Rose continued.  
“I know, I know,” said Rey and shrugged, feeling a bit annoyed at the reproachful tone in Rose’s voice. “I can’t tell you yet…”  
“You don’t have to, I know you’re visiting  _ him _ .”   
Rey stared at Rose in the dark. The mood between them had dropped in a matter of seconds.   
“I told you everything I heard about him and you’re still visiting him at night even though he is a murderer? By the lord, Rey, is he so good in bed that he is twisting your mind that much?!”  
Rey stared down at Rose, hurt by these words.  
“Well, I really do want to sleep with him, but don’t worry, despite the lies you believe in, he is a gentleman, not ruining my reputation at all. I love him and maybe you should question the things you hear from strangers!” Rey was close to sounding hysterical, so she turned away from Rose, lying down on her bed, face directed at the wall.   
Silence.  
“I…” Rose struggled to find words. “Rey, I just don’t want your heart to get broken. I consider you a friend who is dear to me, so don’t get mad at me for worrying too much…” she almost explained in such a gentle voice, that Rey could not be mad for long.   
But Rey was not in the mood anymore to continue discussing her life. Today had been enough for her, enough to process and she had soon fallen asleep. In her dreams Ben visited her for a short second, before it turned into a nightmare and Hux ruining everything. 


	8. Lost Heart

Rey wanted to talk to Rose in the following days, but she still felt a bit strange after the talk they had and so, in the end, she mainly avoided her. She hoped that her friend would understand her and she was probably right about that, because when she noticed how Rey sneaked out of their room each night to visit Ben, Rose wouldn’t say a word.   
Rey and Ben enjoyed these visits. Ben would rant about the upcoming summer party a lot and the expectations his mother had of that evening. Sometimes they would discuss Hux, thinking about ways to get rid of him. Both of them figured that Rey should soon talk with her friends, as Ben thought they might have more clues to offer and might even prove to be reliable allies.   
Other nights Rey would read while Ben wrote or painted. Sometimes he would read her what he had written, about his fierce heroine fighting for her place in society and Rey had a feeling that the character was inspired by her.   
And on special days they would lie on his bed, kissing and cuddling. He loved to touch her skin, play with her hair and sometimes braid it. Sometimes Rey would fall asleep until he woke her up again so she would be back in her room on time. These nights were the weirdest, because she felt this strong desire to ignore what was right and what was wrong, she just wanted to feel his touch. Her thin nightgown felt too thick, too often, but Ben did not dare to cross any lines. But, oh god, how much she wished he wouldn’t hold back anymore.  
Everytime she had to leave his room, she wished the situation would be different. That they wouldn’t have to hide in front of everybody. Be as open as possible with their love towards each other. It was the hardest when Rey had to serve breakfast or dinner and she had to ignore him most of the time. Rarely he was able to touch her hand and give her a look.   
The Summer Party had become the main topic around Alderaan House. Ben and his mother were getting into fights more often as it came closer, other servants were already gossiping about it. Apparently Ben was very stubborn when it came to marriage and there was talk that he might have a lover somewhere. Everytime this was discussed in the servant’s dining room, Rose stared at Rey, knowing the truth behind all this gossip.   
It was after a long day of preparing decorations for the party, when Finn and Poe were discussing another fight that had happened earlier this morning.  
“I heard the names, the women Mrs Solo has invited are coming from the best families. It’s a literal dream…” said Finn, but when Poe shot him a warning look, he continued telling his friends what he heard: “But Solo Junior does not care at all about these ladies coming just to battle for a marriage with him. He could have anyone, the Skywalker company is worth a lot, maybe he is even the most desirable bachelor in all of England at the moment and he says no to his mother and the possibilities!”   
Poe shook his head, while Jannah seemed excited about this. Rose and Rey had become really silent.   
“It’s interesting that someone would willingly marry someone like him, with all the stuff known about him,” commented Jannah.   
“Well he is rich and will have a lot of power when he inherits the company. One or two dark secrets are nothing when so much money is a part of a marriage,” said Finn.   
“I still wonder why he declines to marry though,” Poe wondered. “I don’t see much of a reason.”  
“Well!” said Finn, looking smug. “I’ve overheard him say that he wants to marry who he wants and not who he is supposed to…”  
“Ohhhhh, this sounds a lot like the rumours about a potential lover are true!” said Jannah with excitement.   
Rose laughed. “If that is true, then it sounds like it’s not someone from a rich family. Good luck getting that through without any major problems.”  
Rey could feel Rose’s gaze upon her, but did not say anything.  
“Sounds like you know more,” said Finn.  
“Maybe.”  
“That poor girl though. If he is not allowed to marry her… he will have to drop her soon,” noticed Poe.   
That was enough for Rey.   
“It’s me,” she exploded.   
At first they laughed, but when they noticed that neither Rey nor Rose laughed, they realized that she had spoken the truth.  
“WHA-HA-HA-T!” screamed Finn and Rose had to shove her hand on his mouth, so he would not draw any attention to their discussion. Thankfully, they were the last remaining ones in the dining room, but one could never be sure.   
“Miss Rey,” said Jannah, raising her eyebrows. “I would have never expected you to be such a temptation…”   
Rey’s face turned red.   
“Tell us how this happened. You seem to have impressed him  _ a lot _ …” said Poe, genuinely interested in her side of the story, looking smug.  
So, she started to tell them everything.   
Beginning with the evening Ben arrived, the immediate feeling of liking this person and wanting to give him a chance, ignoring all the gossip. The constant sparks between them, the little outing so he could paint, the obvious feelings they had for each other. Then the cottage, how everything turned upside down when they had finally talked about their feelings. How respectful Ben had been, even though he loved to slam his feelings in one’s face, without thinking twice. It helped her to relive the journey they had, reflecting on herself and her decisions. It felt freeing to finally speak about it. Her own thoughts became much clearer.  
Rey also took the chance and told them the newest developments: the appearance of Hux, the troubles that were haunting Ben. She was hoping that when she told them about these things, that they could help with further information, since more and more days had passed, Rey began to think that only the two of them could not solve the problem.  
“Oh, that guy,” she heard Finn realize. Apparently he had seen Hux when he had decided to make an official visit for Ben. “That guy looked indeed like trouble.”   
“I didn’t know,” it was Rose speaking now, sounding upset. “When you were away, I had something to do in the town. It’s when he approached me. He was very friendly, asking for Mr Solo and how well he was and then he added, that Mr Solo would probably have a lot of trouble of processing the murder he commited. Of course I asked him what he meant by that… casually dropping such an accusation. Then he told me that he heard that he had killed a beloved old man quite some time ago… If I would have known that he was manipulating me at that moment…” Rose seemed genuinely angry about her mistake.   
Rey laid her hand on top of her arm, squeezed to assure her that she had no hard feelings for Rose. In the end it could have been anyone of them falling for Hux stories.   
“So, is it true then that he has fallen so hard for you that he wants to marry you? Do his parents know about this?” asked Poe.   
“It was one of the things he blindsided me with, but yes, he has the clear intention of doing that,” she felt as her face turned red again. “And no, his parents don’t know anything yet and we’re still debating when we should tell them.”   
“This feels so strange,” said Finn. “Knowing the truth about all those rumours.”  
“Are all of you mad at me now for lying? It was hard keeping that secret, but I was afraid all of you would hate me for loving Ben… I know Mrs Holdo is probably guessing that something is happening between us and seems not happy about it. I knew I was playing with fire and I still am. So many things could have gone wrong and I would be the one facing the consequences of it… and to be honest, I still fear that something bad could happen, especially with Hux around,” Rey explained her feelings a bit further.   
It was now Rose’s turn to comfort her friend. “Nobody is hating you for your feelings and I am so sorry for not having listened to your side of the story sooner. I was… too stuck up. And worried too. We could’ve avoided a lot of trouble if we would have spoken sooner instead of staying silent. I don’t want to make this mistake again for a second time. I want to help you because you deserve happiness and if you trust Mr Solo so much, we will too.”   
With that, the friends agreed to help Rey, backing her in a moment she had thought she would have to face by herself, lost and alone. However, the excitement of the group grew at the prospect of the small adventure coming up, distracting them from the boring routine of Alderaan House.

A few days later all of them sat awkwardly in Ben’s room, in the middle of the night. Looks were exchanged. Finn and Poe had sat down on armchairs, while Rose was leaning against the bookshelf. Jannah had been looking at the paintings in awe, surprised at this side of Ben. Rey had sat down on his bed, as she was the only one allowed to do so, while Ben stood in the middle of his room, seeming lost at the increase of guests. He scratched his head.   
“You did what?” he asked everyone.  
“They helped me getting more Information about Hux. Everything they could find,” explained Rey.  
“I see… so I guess they know about everything?” asked Ben and everyone just nodded. “Great!” From his voice it did not sound too great though. It was obvious that he was not sure yet if he could trust that bunch. “And what have you heard?”  
“We found a few girls he used and they told us all kinds of bad stuff he was doing with them. Did you know there were a few girls that vanished after going with him?” said Finn. “People in the bars we went to also said they got weird vibes from him. We even saw him once, bragging about his influence and money, winning the hearts of girls left and right.”  
“Very disgusting to look at,” added Jannah.   
Ben was thinking. Then he said: “It’s not much new stuff here and I don’t know how this could help us…”   
“Mr Solo, we’re implying here that he knows how to murder someone and cover it. He thinks he has the higher ground because of it,” explained Poe in a low voice. “It could be that Snoke’s death was no accident at all.”   
“We think he set you up,” added Rey. “When Finn and Poe were out at night in the bars, to find someone to talk about Hux, they found a girl who told them that he loved to brag that he was blackmailing a higher ranking figure of society.”   
As soon as she had spoken these words, Ben sat down beside her on the bed, looking defeated. Rey could feel the defeat he was radiating, realizing that Hux took a great enjoyment out of taunting him. She put a hand on his back.   
“It’s good that we know in which direction his intentions are going,” Ben finally said. “But we have no real evidence. If we would go to him he could easily deny these accusations.”   
“How great for you that Rey has talked to us,” Rose said. “We also thought the same and we already came up with a plan.”   
“We did?” asked Finn surprised.   
“Okay, I did,” admitted Rose. She crossed the room until she stood before Ben. “You will invite Hux to the summer party in a few days, promising him to give him the money  _ and _ help him get useful connections in the business. I am sure he will take the bait. The five of us will be serving on that evening and at one point we will corner him, letting him confess. We just need a plan for how he does that so many people as possible will hear it.”  
“Maybe I can start the conversation because I am jealous of your relationship?” asked Finn. “Like, I want revenge on Mr Solo. No offence, sir.”   
Ben stood up, looking down at Rose who looked so small in front of him. Then he nodded and stretched out a hand. “We need to try everything, I guess. Your plan sounds good.”  
They shook hands, when suddenly Rose drew him closer to her.   
“Yes, good. But remember I am doing this for my friend Rey over here. It doesn’t mean that I trust you fully yet. If you hurt her in any way, you should fear my wrath.”  
Ben’s face turned the color of a bright red and he just nodded. Rey noticed that the others were amused by this moment and so was she. After that, they left to go to bed, with Rey staying behind.   
“Do you think this plan will work?” she asked him, while leaning against the wall besides the door, while he came closer to her, touching her cheek carefully with his fingers. She hated it that one touch from his made it so tempting to just give in. For a moment they stared at each other deep into their eyes, before Ben remembered her question.   
“It has to. It’s our best shot. With the help of them I think we can set him up well. You have good friends, they deserve a raise and promotion even if this doesn’t work out,” he mused.   
Rey smiled at him. “Kiss me,” she told him.   
He followed her order, pressing her against the wall, kissing her passionately. Both of them had become quite experienced in sharing kisses. For Rey there always was an explosion of sensation, his lips on hers, his taste. She had buried her hands in his hair, his soft hair that always smelled like expensive soap. He let go of her.  
“You should go back, before your friends think we’re doing forbidden stuff,” he almost said this with amusement in his voice.   
It was Rey who replied completely seriously. “What if... if I want to do all this forbidden stuff right now?”  
Ben was a bit perplexed.   
“You can’t be serious,” he said after some silence. “You know what it could mean for you and me… I can’t do it. Not until…”  
_ We’re married. We don’t have anybody against us anymore. Until we can finally show our love openly.  
_ Rey held on to him, leaning against him, her head against his comfortable and warm chest. When none of the two spoke, she could even hear his heartbeat. A steady sound. It calmed her down.   
When he put his arms around her, she just sighed.   
“I wish things were easier,” she finally said.   
“We will make them easier, I have trust in the help of your friends. I hope when we explain carefully everything to my family, they will accept us too,” Ben indeed sounded hopeful.  
She wanted to believe him.

The summer party was approaching fast; actual decor was being delivered to Alderaan House and Rey had a lot to do decorating the house and garden. She knew that Ben had sent out an invitation for Hux in the meantime and apparently he had accepted with delight (a reaction that everyone had made anxious). There was no turning back from the plan now. Rose seemed very determined to make sure that everyone stayed on board the whole time, Rey guessed she still felt bad about doing the research about Ben behind her back. Rey had no hard feelings, since she saw the good in this: she felt much closer to Ben and her friends than before.   
“I am hopeful,” said Rose, after Rey had talked with her during her break, outside in the backyard, enjoying the sun. Rey was still quite unsure about their plan and if everything would be going accordingly, especially since the party was now very close. “We’re a good team, I guess. We will have the situation on that evening under control.”   
Rey nodded. “I will try to believe you, but I will be so glad when all of this is over…” She felt exhausted these past days. The party, Hux and her discussions with her friends and Ben had started to take a toll on her. The anxiety gave her the most horrible ideas how this could end, which also took a lot of sleep from her. At least she was glad she was not alone anymore, in this cursed situation. She was glad that Rose and her were on good terms again.   
In only a few days the most important players in the business and society would show up at Alderaan House, a fact that was already worrisome on its own, and many young girls would be there, trying to impress Ben. Hopefully she wouldn’t feel too much jealousy, when she was the one serving these women. That evening would be a real test for everyone.   
Suddenly, she heard a voice call her. “Rey!”   
When both Rey and Rose turned around to look at the person who was the source of it, they saw Mrs Holdo coming with fast steps towards them, from the kitchen.   
Worried, Rey looked first at Rose and then got up, waiting for Mrs Holdo to arrive and hear her out.  
“Mrs Skywalker is requesting you for the afternoon tea again today. So please get ready”, she told Rey in a stern voice.  
When Mrs Holdo left them behind, Rey turned around to Rose. “Her afternoon tea feels almost like routine by now… I am leaving to refresh myself. See you later at dinner!”  
The girls waved at each other and Rey hurried inside. After she had refreshed, she came into the kitchen to fetch the tablets with dishes full of cookies and sandwiches. Someone else helped to carry the tea upstairs. After Rey was alone in the room, setting up the table and preparing the chessboard for Padmé, enjoying the relaxing silence for the moment, Ben entered.   
“Oh, Rey. Hasn’t grandmother arrived yet?” he asked when he came inside. He used this chance to hug her from behind, making her almost drop a dish. Both of them had so much to do, that it was hard to see each other, with both of them needing their sleep at night and her not being able to visit him. Of course he was using every situation he could when they were alone to show his affection.  
She leaned into him. “Not yet. But no offense to your grandmother, I like her a lot, but I am more happy to see you again.”   
“I am pleased to hear that,” he said, kissing her forehead gently. When she had put down the dish, he turned her slowly around, dancing a tiny dance with her, crossing the room to the middle of it. Both moved along to a music nobody but them could hear. “These days I am so occupied with preparing this cursed party… when I just want to be around you.”  
Rey had leaned her head against his chest, enjoying the tiny vibrations he radiated while he spoke. She closed her eyes and sighed. “We both knew what we would get with each other…” Then she looked up. “We’re living in different worlds Ben. We both knew.”   
Ben did not look so happy about her saying this. Instead, he gently touched her cheeks, holding her and then kissing her as passionately as he could. Rey pushed against him and they almost stumbled because of it. But both did not let go of each other.   
“OH!” they heard someone exclaim in surprise, followed by the sound of a closing door. When they turned around they saw Padmé, standing at the door with big eyes.   
“Grandmother!” Ben exclaimed, shocked. Both of them had jumped away from each other, as if it still could change what Padmé saw.  
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room.  
“I guess your parents don’t know about this affair?” asked Padmé.   
Rey bit her lip at the mention of this being an “affair”.  
_ We really lived in a dream,  _ she realized.  
“No, they don’t,” admitted Ben in the meantime. “I… I can explain grandmother, it’s…”  
“I have not asked you to explain anything to me, Ben,” Padmé said, looking sternly at both. Rey noticed that Padmé had a hard time keeping her face straight and neutral, but she dared not to think about if she was angry or even less likely, happy.   
Ben had walked up to his grandmother, looking down at her, taking her hand, almost looking like a beggar. She looked so tiny besides him. “Please, don’t tell my parents yet… we… we are figuring out of how to do that…”  
Padmé just looked for a moment at her grandson.   
“Tell me, do you love her?” she suddenly asked him.   
“Yes, yes, I do,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t care about this stupid society, these classes… I want to be with Rey for the rest of my life.” He bit his lip. “I love her so much.”  
_ It still feels so strange to hear him say that he loves me,  _ Rey thought for a moment.  _ I don’t know anymore if I am still living in this dream we created in the cottage or we finally get a step closer to reality...  
_ “And what about you, young lady?” Padmé asked her now.   
Rey came a step forward, feeling now surprised at all that Padmé had directed her attention to the young maid. Ben’s confidence made her confident. “I feel alike, Mrs Skywalker. I.. I love Ben too. It took me a while to realize due to my role in Alderaan House…” She held out her hand and in the next second he was beside her, holding her hand, looking longingly at her. “I lost my heart to him and it will always be his.”  
Padmé stared in silence at the young couple. Both of them looked afraid of her response.  _ It’s over.  
_ “Wonderful that both of you finally admitted that to each other,” she finally said, walking past them to take a seat in one of the armchairs. “It was about time.”  
Confused, they looked at her.   
“What do you mean?” Ben asked.  
“My dear Ben, I was once in the same position as you. Don’t you think I would recognize two people in love? Those longing looks in the dining room? Every small chance to touch her. I am surprised your parents have been blind to it...”  
“Did you… and no offense about what I am about to say next, but did you set up the afternoon teas for us to see each other more?” Rey had to ask.   
“Yes, it’s one of my best works apparently,” Padmé replied, with a smug smile.   
This old lady was not to be underestimated!  
“I figure you also have a problem coming up,” Padmé then added, looking at Ben again. “Your mother wants you to find a bride at that summer party. Why don’t you tell her finally?”  
“She doesn’t want to listen. It’s… as if she is afraid of something.”  
“Hm.... I think it’s because of your uncle.”  
That caused a harsh reaction in Ben, as he jerked his head up, looking at his grandmother with big eyes. “Why?” Rey heard him ask.   
“I think your mother fears that your Uncle will keep you in London and that a wife might change that. That you will stay at Alderaan House. You know how your Uncle can be. I don’t think a marriage makes the situation better, it makes it worse actually.”   
Ben nodded. “He will also be there at the party apparently,” he said, more directed at Rey than at his grandmother. “All of my family will be there on that evening, maybe we should tell them everything then. Even if it’s a major risk.”  
“They will be very excited to meet me, while I served them drinks and food the whole evening, in my fanciest work clothes,” noted Rey. It was supposed to be a joke, but it came out much sadder than she intended.   
Ben also looked quite sad.  
“Then why don’t you join the party as a guest?” asked Padmé. “You’re old enough to do that.”  
Ben stared at his grandmother in disbelief.   
“I… what?!” Rey was confused. “I can’t just… I am not fit to be around these people…”  
“First of all, Ben can invite anyone he wants. Or let’s say, if he has a problem with that,  _ I _ am officially inviting you. I will care about dresses and jewelry and all these things, don’t worry, we will turn you into the star of the night. Secondly, when you want to marry my grandson you will have to get used to being around these people quite often. See this as an introduction to society,” Padmé told her, with a strict voice, not allowing any protest.  
Rey stood there speechless. Was it even allowed for someone like her to show up at a fancy party, playing dress up?!  
“My parents will be mad,” Ben added. “And the trouble it might cause for Rey-”  
“You both told me you love each other and the moment you’re supposed to fight for that love you get cold feet? Not with me Ben. Your grandfather, Anakin, also was never giving up for our love. I even remember your mother fighting for Han so much, I was basically forced to agree to the marriage. And I know you have your mother’s temperament if you want something,” Padmé said, looking knowingly at her grandson.   
Ben turned to Rey. “Well...” He sounded insecure, waiting for Rey to say something about this plan.  
She tried to smile at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I mean, your mother wants to find you a bride at the party and I guess I’m gonna show up and will be like ‘Well, here I am!’”   
That brought a smile to Ben’s face.  
“Great!” said Padmé. “Sounds like a plan and now sit down Ben, I want to play my round of chess and while we’re playing both of you will tell me a bit more how things developed. All the details please.” 


	9. The Summer Party (Part 1)

“I don’t think this is a good idea!”  
Rey was staring at herself in the mirror, turning around in the dark green dress that Padmé had given her. In fact, the dress almost looked black while she swirled around and she noticed that Padmé looked quite smug in the reflection. It was one of her old ones when she had been young.  
“Don’t worry, enjoy the evening instead,” Padmé replied, getting up and standing beside her. “I see a beautiful young woman and I don’t think someone would guess from where you come from. You’ll fit in, I promise. And when you two will talk to Leia, I will be there too.” While Padmé spoke to her, she put a gold necklace around Rey’s neck, a sapphire surrounded by wings, which was apparently a present she got from Anakin so many years ago, representing the Skywalker name.  
Rey was still a bit sceptical about the situation, but decided to not pursue this discussion further. Then she turned around to take in one last look: besides the necklace, she had been given gold jewelry like earrings and a fancy bracelet, as the dress had many embroidered parts in gold. The fine silk was thin and would let her skin breathe in the evening heat. Padmé had given her a nice updo, with a few strands of hair falling over her shoulder. Rey truly looked like a lady from a wealthy family.   
_ Will Ben even recognize me? _ , she wondered with a smile on her face.  
The change that Rey would be not with her friends tonight had sparked some discussions. Of course she had to tell Rose, who was a bit shocked at the turn of events and Padmé finding out, but thought it might indeed be helpful to have an ally on the other side too. The only thing they made sure that Padmé didn’t know of was Ben’s trouble with Hux, as they did not want her to be upset too much about it. It had gotten harder to keep track of who knew what and she would at least be glad to get some of the things off her shoulders.   
However, they had to get through the evening first and there were still many variables left that could cause trouble. Rey and Rose had adjusted the plan for tonight: first, Rey and Ben would talk to his family and then they were trying to lure a confession out of Hux.   
“I told you to not worry!” she heard Padmé say behind her. She was waiting at the door for her to come, ready in her dark purple dress that made her hair look even more white. Rey gave her locks one last touch to put them in place, before she turned around and followed Padmé through the corridors. Soon, they had arrived at the gallery, looking down the stairs into the Foyer. A lot of the guests had already arrived and there was a lot of mingling going on.   
“Remember, try to stay calm. If you want to be with Ben, you will see these guests more often in the future. Get to know them, be nice and nobody will eat you alive,” Padmé whispered to her and then they were walking down the stairs.   
Rey could feel the looks of the guests on her, wondering who this girl was that came with Mrs Skywalker. She tried to ignore it or she would have started crying and running back to her room in the end.   
And then they stood in the middle of the foyer, greeting guests that had arrived and were led by servants through a big door in the back into the gardens.   
“Okay my dear, I know you can do this,” Padmé said, taking her hand and squeezing it. “Try to enjoy it until we get to the hard part.” With that, Padmé left her, walking into the garden with someone she had recognized.  
Rey stood there alone, looking around like a lost deer in the woods. She found Poe by the door, welcoming new arrivals and for a short moment their gazes met. He smiled at her and gave her an encouraging sign and that he loved how she looked. In return, she also smiled at him and took a deep breath. Then she also went to the garden.  
Everyone had done excellent work to prepare the party.  
The main colors were a calming lilac and besides the many other colorful flowers in the garden, they had placed additional flower arrangements fitting the color scheme. Multiple tables had been placed around the lawn, a buffet in the back, people walking around between them and chatting. Rey could hear glasses clinking and the faint music of a small violin quartet that had been invited to play tonight. It felt like she had stepped right into a midsummer night’s dream.  
Rey tried to find known faces amongst the groups of people, slowly walking past them. She was especially looking out for Ben. She still could not believe how big the garden of the estate was, there was even a maze in the middle of it, with many people taking a stroll through it tonight. So many statues reminding her of famous greek statues, adding to this fairytale-like feeling of this evening. Candles were illuminating paths she was following now.  
“There you are!”  
Rey turned around and looked at Finn. He was standing in front of her with a tablet, serving some drinks. He offered her to choose one.   
She picked a non-alcoholic drink as it was better to keep a clear head.  
“You look anxious,” noticed Finn.  
“Well, aren’t you feeling anxious about tonight?”  
“I have enough distractions tonight,” Finn told her, looking at her with a sorry look.  
Rey sighed.  
“Try to eat something,” said Rose, who joined them, handing Rey the tablet with the snacks.  
“No, thank you.”  
Rose shrugged.  
“Where is Ben?” Rey asked both of her friends.  
“The last time I saw him he was with his parents to a bunch of families, obviously being forced to interact with their daughters,” Finn had to hide a tiny mischievous smile. “He looked quite uncomfortable.”  
“Don’t be so mean Finn,” Rose warned him.   
“Well, continue to focus on your work, I continue to look for him. We will see us later,” Rey told them and the three exchanged a knowing look, before they parted ways.  
Rey walked further into the garden, past benches where couples were sitting, talking with each other, exchanging touches they thought nobody would see. How much she wished one of these couples could be her and Ben. Her heart ached so much that she was denied this special feeling. Again, she sighed while she continued her journey.  
Then she saw him.  
And the smile that was at first on her lips died a moment later.  
Ben was surrounded by a few girls, trying to talk to him. She had to agree with Finn though, he looked indeed very uncomfortable, but it did not make her feel better.   
There it was: the jealousy taking hold of her.   
He tried to say something to the girls, but he had not much of a chance as they simply talked over him and pushed him to continue walking. It must be true what Finn said days ago, that a few secrets really did not matter when a lot of money was involved. She hated that these women were getting close to him without caring much about him. Yet, their status brought them closer to him than Rey would probably ever be. Especially if tonight wouldn’t go well.   
_ God, _ she thought,  _ why are these thoughts tormenting me again? And why do I suddenly feel like all of this was my worst decision I ever made?  
_ Then Ben noticed her, looking at her, his smile fading when he noticed her grim face, realizing how his group of girls around him might appear to her. Before he could do anything though, Rey had turned around and vanished among the people again.  
She did not want to create a scene, so she slowly walked past the guests, trying to hide her sadness. At some point she heard Lando talk to a bunch of friends about old, funny adventures, loving the attention. If she wouldn’t have been so upset she would have listened to him a bit.   
Instead, someone grabbed her, pulling her away from the groups of people, hidden away behind hedges and greek statues. When she looked up, she realized that Hux had caught her.  
“You,” she said with as much spite and hate in her voice as possible.   
“Oh, why so angry? I just tried to help you get away from this man,” Hux said, then chuckling. “I saw him too tonight, enjoying the company of these ladies.”  
“Stop acting like this, I know who you are and what you did,” she warned him.  
He suddenly came closer to her, disrespecting her personal space.   
“Are we getting a bit too brave?”  
Rey did not say anything.  
“When I look at you I can see that you’re upset about tonight. I never thought your spirit could be broken so easily. Anyways… you can wear all the fancy dresses you want, but you will and can never be more than a simple maid, being forced to stay away from your sweet lover. Whatever fairytales you believe in, you’re not in one.”  
She  _ hated _ the evil smile he had on his lips, enjoying making all these hurtful comments. It was obvious that he tried to make her even more upset, but she tried to not show him that it actually worked, which made her even more angrier.   
“You will lose everything if you keep playing with that fire…” he whispered now in her ear, coming way too close to her. A shudder went down her spine and in the next second she had jumped away from him, leaving him behind with a fast walk, back to the house.   
She hated this man so much.   
Entering through the winter garden, she walked through into the drawing room, away from the noise of the people. She wanted to calm down, sort out her feelings because she could not afford it to be a mess during the confrontation with his parents. With Hux. She would need to appear calm and determined. Doubt would ruin everything.   
She let herself plump into one of the armchairs, not bothering that there was a fire burning in the fireplace, being the only source of light in the room.   
_ Rey, you have to ignore all these ugly feelings and trust Ben,  _ she told herself.  _ Your love can only survive if you believe in it. Trust him.  
_ And yet… _ yet _ .  
She sighed.  
“The young lady here sounds like a lot is bothering her,” someone said to her. It was a man with a deep, calm voice, gentle even. He came out of the shadows, standing beside her armchair, smiling.   
Rey looked up to him. “I just needed to get away from all these people… I am not used to these kinds of gatherings,” she told him, not revealing too much about her.   
The man laughed, a soft one, understanding.  
“I also do not like these gatherings,” he admitted. “Everyone just wants to talk to you, impress you, but only rarely they really care about you. That’s why I am hiding here inside. My duty is calling me soon however and I have to join the party. I am just an annoyed old man, but I can see that there is more to _ your _ story.”  
Rey sighed again. Was her trouble so obvious?  
“Well… I don’t know if an annoyed old man likes to hear stories about the life of a young girl,” she said with a smile and he laughed again, but instead of saying anything he sat down in an armchair and gave her a sign to continue speaking. “Uhm… There is  _ someone _ I like, but he is part of this rich society and wealthy family and I am not even close to his level. I should actually not be here,” she finally admitted, feeling stupid for telling this man about her feelings. “He will probably marry someone else, I worry, because of our statuses. Someone else is taunting us, or rather me, with this and this person did upset me earlier. I feel frustrated. This whole evening feels like a mistake.”  
Every word she spoke out loud, she felt a bit lighter.  
The man looked at her, thinking about all of these words.  
“The fact that you’re so upset about this tells me you really care for the person you love. I think giving up should be your last option. I know it’s hard in these times, but I have a family that had to fight for everything that was dear to them. I am sure it will pay off when you stay determined.”  
He winked at her.   
Rey smiled at him. “Thank you, for your kind words, they cheered me up. I promised to trust him and I almost broke this promise, because of the smallest problem and we had faced something worse already…” Rey got up, straightening her dress. “Thank you for listening.”  
“It was an honor, Miss…?”  
“Rey.”  
“Rey. Wonderful name. I will also keep it a secret that you shouldn’t be here tonight,” he said, teasing her.  
She stared down at the floor, feeling a rush of heat in her face. Flustered, she moved to the door leading to the winter garden. Before she vanished, she smiled at him again, while he just shook the head, amused about a girl with heartache like her. 

The words of the stranger had encouraged her a lot, as she walked through the groups of people, greeting them , making them wonder who this strange woman was. She was looking for Ben. Thankfully, when she saw him, he was standing alone by a table, downing a drink.   
“Ben…”   
When he heard her voice, he immediately turned around, his face lightening up at her appearance.  
“I am sorry you saw this mess,” he said, when Rey stopped right in front of him. “It was hard to distract these women and then I couldn’t find you again… I was so mad they took so much of my time away from you.”  
Rey smiled at him. “It’s okay, even though I have to admit, it has upset me a little bit.”  
“And I did not want you to feel like that,” he said while he took her hand, leading her away from the party, into a tiny maze that was the centerpiece of the garden. Here there would be hidden away from curious gazes. Rey welcomed their little walk through it, almost feeling romantic.  
“I crossed paths with Hux, he actually made me feel worse about it,” she admitted and she could feel how his grip on her hand tightened at the mention of this cursed name.  
“That little…” Ben whispered a curse under his breath. “I am sorry that I have left you alone. I should have protected you.”  
“You would be surprised, but I am an adult, grown up woman, capable of protecting myself,” she told him with a wink. “I had a nice encounter with a stranger in the drawing room though. He helped me feel better again. He was nice.” She stopped in front of a greek statue, surrounded by wildflowers. Rey recognized the statue as the goddess Aphrodite and smiled. What kind of coincidence to stop in front of this goddess.   
She then turned to look at Ben again.   
“You know, I feel my life changed the moment you entered the foyer that night. I thought I would end up at being a servant forever and never I would have imagined I would find your love. It still feels like a dream from which I could wake up any moment, back in the orphanage just daydreaming all day. Maybe that is the reason why I feel so clingy to you and your love. It could be taken away from me. But on the other side, I would never let you go without a fight,” she told him in a soft voice, while he had come closer to her. They were looking into each other's eyes with an intensity… Rey felt her heart beat faster.   
“Whatever happens tonight… Ben Solo, I love you.”  
It was all he needed.  
He had cupped her head, turned it so he could easily kiss her, so softly, so gentle. She leaned into him, feeling safe and welcome in his arms. His thumbs were caressing her cheeks.   
It was all  _ she  _ needed.  
The confirmation that he was hers. That Rey would always be the only woman in his life. Something had brought them together here, pulling them away from their separate paths, combining it to one path leading into a still uncertain future. Hopefully that future would be a bit more certain after tonight.   
He let go of her, a fire in his eyes. He felt probably the same as her: ignore the etiquette, run away from the party, him undressing her carefully… kissing and touching her…  
She sighed, thinking about her wildest fantasies.   
“I love you too, Rey,” he finally whispered. “And I will make sure you will know this every day… every future night spent together. I don’t care if my family will accept us or not, even if it means leaving behind everything.”   
Rey smiled at him with the biggest smile.   
“I think we need to go back,” she said after they kissed for a second time, this time feeling more intense. She never wanted to stop, but there were important things waiting for them.   
Ben let go of her, looking unhappy to do so.  
They walked arm in arm back through the maze and had to let go of each other before they left the maze, returning back to reality. She hated the hiding.  
“Who do we have here?” Hux appeared beside them the moment they had left the maze.   
Both spun around to him, with Rey leaning a bit more into Ben, trying to get away from this rat.   
“What do you want?” Ben asked in a calm voice, to not draw any attention to the three of them.   
“Well, I just wanted to talk to you in private, under four eyes…” For a short second he stared at Rey as if she was just an annoying fly circling them. “To talk about some business.”  
Rey could feel how Ben became nervous. A talk under four eyes had not been part of their plan tonight and would mess with their carefully planned schedule. However, as both knew Hux, it was better to give in than to further avoid him, as he probably would follow Ben around, causing more trouble.   
So in the end Ben said: “Okay, I’ll go with you. But be quick, you’re not the only one demanding my presence.”  
Ben let go of her, giving her a sign to go back to the house and wait there. For a moment she stared after these two, worried. The whole situation made her feel so upset… all she wished for was finally to be free of Hux, of fearing the reaction of Ben’s family… Although surrounded by so many people, she felt so alone in this moment.  
When she slowly walked back to the house, she saw Finn and Rose looking at her confused. Ben should have been with her to begin with the first phase of their plan, but he was nowhere to be seen. Rey just shrugged, unable to talk with them so freely about it in front of these guests… and returned to the house.  
She had entered the winter garden, which got only illuminated by the open door of the drawing room, still lost in her thoughts on how to adjust their plan.   
“What do you want from him?”  
Rey stopped, recognizing the voice of the stranger from earlier tonight. This time he did not sound as friendly, his voice this time making her shiver. “I beg your pardon?”  
The man stepped closer to Rey, into the light. Now backlit, he was staring right into her eyes, almost on the same height as her. “I saw the two of you just outside, you have a great view from here over the whole garden. Even the maze. So, tell me Rey, what do you want from him?”  
Was he talking about Ben?  
“Who are you?” she asked.   
“Doesn’t matter to you. I want to know what you want from my nephew.”  
Shocked, Rey stared at him.  _ Ben’s uncle. _ She had talked to Ben’s uncle without knowing, telling him that she was in love with his nephew… The same uncle Ben was fearing. The moment she realized what kind of mistake she made, she felt her legs becoming weak. She did not want to show any weakness however and took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.   
“Ah I see… you’re Ben’s uncle. Earlier tonight you did not sound so angry about how I am feeling about him. You even understood it as your sister and mother had to fight for their love too. Suddenly it doesn’t matter to you anymore,” Rey said, focused to keep her voice in a steady tone, staying friendly even though she tried to give him a tiny warning with her words.  
Luke raised an eyebrow, surprised that she did not shy away from him.  
“It’s because my nephew is not made for life. He needs a steady hand leading him through life, teaching him the responsibility of leading a company… Not his naive dreams about paintings, writing novels and other romantic stuff he thinks are more fulfilling.”  
“And you noticed that all of this made him unhappy?”  
Luke looked at her, speechless.   
“I know he is good at hiding his feelings and maybe he should rather have someone who listens to him, instead of pushing him into a direction he does not like,” Rey added.  
The mood in the room shifted now into something unbearable. Ben’s uncle did not like to be criticized.   
“Oh, who are you again? You said you do not belong to society so my guess is you’re just a simple servant, a common person without much money. Maybe you need a lesson and with that I mean  _ I can get you fired. _ I know Ben since he was born and you know him for a few months, claiming he is unhappy. If you ask me, you have bewitched him with your looks and body to get a chance to marry rich. How much money do you want? We can settle this like that and you can leave him alone and stop ruining his life.”  
Rey was shocked at how hostile Luke had suddenly become. How quickly the situation lost its control.  
“I would… it was never about money! I love him!” She stepped closer to Luke. “You need to listen to your nephew! He hates working for the company and if he wants to paint and write and be with me… He would even leave his family!”   
“For a thief like you?”  
Luke suddenly grabbed after the necklace Padmé had given her. Rey tried to catch his hand with it, but he was too quick. She could feel a pain in her neck where the material of the necklace had cut into her skin, so hard had Luke pulled on it. It Rey a moment to realize what had just happened, truly hurt about this gesture.   
“This belongs to my mother.”   
“She gave it to me tonight because she knows about me and Ben and she is more understanding than you are! Why are you clinging to Ben so much? You watched your sister go through such a situation too, so why are you now forcing Ben through the same experience?”  
“Ben has no idea about life, he is way too naive for a man of his age. I know about the talk that makes it rounds here, amongst people… I don’t care if this gossip is true or not, but he needs to get away from here, Leia has been blind for years… thinking a simple marriage would change my mind about him, change his reputation. Well, he can marry. But not you. It will be a woman from our ranks, who is happy with our fortune and will give him enough heirs. But you won’t be the mother of his children, because you will just make his reputation worse. What do you think all the people will say when he marries a servant girl like you? A nobody?”  
Rey was listening to Luke, crying now. Her heart breaking apart. She did not really bother that he had become so mean towards her, insulting her even, but she was drawing the line at him dooming Ben with this behaviour.   
“I don’t understand,” she finally said, touching her empty neck in hope the necklace would still be there. “Why you’re so cruel to him. I understand now why he hates working for you. You want to doom Ben to the same lonely life you apparently have. You knew about everything and you did not help him once… You realize you will drive him away from his family. He loves his parents. His grandmother. And I am sure there is love left for you but you ruin everything by being egoistic. Let him go. _ Please _ .”  
“No, I won’t.” Luke simply said, looking at the necklace again. “The only one who will go is _ you. _ ”  
Rey could not stop her tears now. With every word Luke spoke she could feel how he teared her chest open to pull her heart out and tear it apart. She had known that it would not be easy, but that it would be so hard, she had not expected. Luke was completely living in his own egocentric world, only thinking about the legacy of his family and the company, not wanting to see the harm he was causing by his behaviour. He even did not care to put Ben in the same position as Leia had been. Rey wondered a moment why Luke had become like this horrible monster, set out to ruin his whole family. The worst of it was, that he apparently wanted Rey gone now. As far away from his nephew as possible. She felt a shiver going down her spine, thinking about the bleak and sad life Ben was doomed to accept.   
“You’re a cruel man,” she finally said.   
But before Luke could reply, they heard a loud smash coming from the drawing room, followed by screams. Both hurried to the door to look at what had happened. When they entered the drawing room, they noticed immediately that they were not the only ones gathering in the room to see what was going on.   
Finn stood there, pulling Ben away from Hux. Something had gone horribly wrong tonight. On all sides. Rey felt the urge to cry even more, feeling the pure loss of control now.   
In the next second she was besides Ben, who was kneeling on the floor, first staring at Hux and then at Luke, a silent resistance to both of them. When Ben saw his uncle, she could feel him stiffen, surprised at this sudden appearance.   
“The show is over!” Luke said in a booming voice, leading the people out of the room, back into the Foyer and Winter Garden, closing all doors. Then he looked at Hux. “Ah, you. You should leave, before there will be any consequences for you.”   
Hux nodded, looking down at Ben, giving him a disgusting, triumphant smile.   
“Mr Skywalker, He-” started Finn, just to be interrupted by Luke.  
“And you do your work outside of this room. I need to talk to my nephew and his...  _ whatever  _ she is.”   
Finn looked shocked that Luke apparently knew who Rey was and how angry he sounded. Then there was worry when he left the room, as he had realized too that their plan had gone wrong.   
When there was only silence left in the room between the three of them, Luke turned towards Ben and Rey, both of them still on the floor. Rey leaned against Ben, still crying. When Ben had noticed the state she had been in, he had looked at her shocked and now then stared angrily at Luke.   
“Don’t look at me like that. I think you already brought enough bad reputation into this house, shame over the Skywalker name.”  
“It was never me-” Ben started, but was also interrupted, just like Finn had been. Luke had made up his mind and nobody would stop him now.   
“I have seen enough of what has happened here. What you did. That woman besides you has a bad influence on you. Now you’re just trying to make a scene, making the situation even worse and I won’t accept any protest from anyone anymore!”  
Ben stared at his uncle, trying to stay calm. Rey beside him continued crying her silent tears, knowing what Luke would say next. And yet, when she heard the words, she wanted to scream in pain.  
“You will come with me to London permanently after this party is over.” 


	10. The Summer Party (Part 2)

“What is going on here?” When Leia had entered the room, she had looked furious, like a Valkyrie ready for battle. The moment she saw her son on the floor though, there was a moment of confusion on her face. Confusion at Rey leaning into him, crying. Confusion at the angry look of Luke towering over both of them. Rey had looked up to Leia when she had stormed into the room, noticing Finn behind her. He had probably brought her here and somewhere behind him she could see the worried face of Rose. There was no time to look who else had gathered in front of the door, since Padmé and Han entered the room too and Han closed the door with a bang.   
And just like that, Rey and Ben had been thrown into that dreaded family meeting.   
“Get up,” Leia told her son. “I think a young man like you has no need to sit on the floor.”  
Ben did as his mother had commanded him and rose up. Rey was still clinging to him, so she got up with him. She was trying to stop crying but all she could feel in her chest was pain. Pain coming from her heart. In this moment she just never wanted to let go of Ben, who besides her had turned white as snow. Obviously, he was also upset at the turn of events. First Hux, then his uncle and now  _ this _ …  
“Please explain to me what has happened here tonight. And why is this girl with you? Wait…” Leia took a closer look at Rey. “Aren’t you one of our servants? What are you doing here?”  
“Yes,” said Rey with a shaky voice, nodding a bit, not being able to answer her other question.   
Leia looked a bit more angry at the not so clear answer. “Ben?”  
Ben stiffened besides Rey. It made her head turn towards him and for a moment he also turned to look down at her. Padmé knew. Luke knew. Rey’s friends knew. It was time to make the next step. Even though it looked bad for their future together.   
“Well, she was invited tonight for a reason. This woman,” Ben started, pulling Rey closer to him, “is the woman I love and want to marry.”  
Leia looked shocked. Han took a sharp breath.  
“You wanted me to find a bride tonight, to avoid me from going with my uncle. Well, here she is. But I fear it doesn’t make my uncle stop,” Ben added, giving Luke a furious look.  
“This family really has a thing for forbidden romances…” commented Han, which made Padmé giggle.   
Luke did not seem amused.  
Leia on the other hand was looking at her son, with that young woman in his arms, clinging to her. Then she looked at her brother, clearly thinking about her next move.   
“I am not sure what I am supposed to think about all of this,” she finally said.  
Rey and Ben stiffened a bit more at her words.  
“Mother, I know it might not be what you wanted, but I made this decision by myself. I love Rey. Not even Uncle Luke will stop me from doing that. He doesn’t know what he is talking about right now, he wants me to leave after the party to come with him to London because he cares way too much about our cursed company. I am sure we can find someone else who would do a better job at leading than me,” explained Ben, trying to sound reasonable.   
“No we won’t find someone else from the outside. It has always been a family business. Our mother has worked hard to make it work out after our father died. I worked hard. You worked hard. Even Han worked there as hard as he could. You can’t just simply throw away all that blood, sweat and tears for…” He gestured at Rey. “For a maid! A servant!”  
For a moment there was silence in the room.   
“Yes, she might be a servant but it doesn’t mean she is worth less,” growled Ben.   
Leia stared at her son, then at her brother. Her glance even brushed over Rey, who probably looked horrible after all this emotional stress.  
“First of all Luke, you do not need to belittle Rey,” Leia said finally, giving Luke a look of warning. “I think the discussion got a bit too emotional and nobody is able to make rational decisions right now. With that, Ben won’t be leaving after the party.”  
Ben let out a breath, relaxing finally a bit.  
“However, I do think we should further discuss all of this tomorrow morning,” she added and then turned to Ben. “I understand you and your feelings. Many years ago I was in your position, but I wished you would have talked to me earlier about this. I do feel a bit hurt over your behaviour, Ben.”  
Ben looked at the carpet floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the room and Rey recognized the sadness and shame in his eyes. That was even worse than all those words, seeing him like this…  
“Please consider Ben’s feelings in this,” Rey finally said, turning her head towards his family, to look at them. Face them like she was on the same level as them. “I do understand all your perspectives on this. The fear of losing something you worked hard for, your family. All I can say is, at the orphanage I thought I would have a bleak life without a chance of fulfilling my dreams. Well, Ben is the first step into a new life. I worked hard to get work at Alderaan House. Ben is my new family and you can be too. Believe me, I do understand your opinions. Right now you’re fighting for the things you think that matter the most but when you continue to ignore Ben’s feelings in all of this you will lose him anyways. I will lose him. Nobody will win this game in the end.”  
Leia looked at Rey with a mysterious look that the young woman was not able to read. But she seemed to consider Rey’s words as she looked for a moment at her son, the miserable state he was in. Then she looked over to her brother again and this time to her mother and husband too. Especially her husband. Then she turned around again and sighed.  
“I think we can definitely think about a solution tomorrow, but I do not want to make any promises yet. Ben, I love you so much and you’re my most precious one to have in life…” She came closer to him, putting a hand on his cheek. It made him look at her. “I really want to make your wishes come true, but things won’t resolve as easily as one might think. It is a lot of work. A lot of fighting.”  
“Well, I won’t change my mind on any of this,” Luke ruined the moment.  
Everyone looked at him.  
“Luke, with all due respect, but don’t you think you’re taking it a bit too far? I am sure there is somewhere a good solution to all of this, even concerning the company,” said Han. “Ben is still my son and not yours. So the final decision should be made by me and Leia. Not you.”   
Ben raised a brow at the defiance of his father.   
Luke only looked angry and did not reply with a single word.   
“Han is right,” said Leia. “Maybe you have been living too long alone in London and maybe you should spend more time with your family again. We will discuss this further tomorrow and I would be glad if you left us alone now. Mother, you too. I want to talk to Ben and Rey alone for a moment.”  
Han tried to sneak out with Luke and Padmé, but Leia gave him a look that made him stop immediately. He then wandered through the room to sit down in one of the armchairs, exhausted after the door was closed.  
“That was intense,” was all he could say.   
“Mother, I can explain everything…”  
Leia shook her head.  
“No need to, I understand. I made it not easy for you too. Just let me sleep a night over everything. It’s better since I will be able to think about all of this from a fresh perspective tomorrow morning.” She then turned to Rey. “But I am so sorry for Luke’s behaviour towards you, Rey. Please don’t think he is a heartless and cruel man, he definitely isn’t. He just seems…”  
“Lonely?” Han suggested.  
“Yes, lonely. But Ben alone won’t help him in London, he needs to realize that. Anyways, we do not think of you as someone of less worth just because you’re a servant. But both of you need to have patience, since this matter is quite complicated until everything has been sorted out. I can only offer the two of you, that you may enjoy the rest of the night without having to hide. I don’t care about what other people will say. I want to see my son happy. At least tonight.”  
_ At least.  
_ Rey was not sure how she was supposed to feel. It sounded a lot like Leia had enough hope for everyone in this room, but even she seemed to feel not sure about how this might end.   
“I am glad you’re at least trying,” Ben finally said. “And I am sorry that I haven’t talked about this sooner. It’s… my mistake. Maybe we could have avoided many things…”  
Leia did not reply anything, but all she did was hug her son tightly.

Soon, Rey and Ben were alone in the drawing room, as his family had decided to give them some space. Leia went to look for Luke to talk to him about his behaviour, clearly still upset by it.  
So they stood there, looking at each other for a moment.   
“Well, this went better than I imagined,” said Ben finally. “But at the same time, it also feels worse.”  
Rey nodded in agreement. “I really understand that they can’t just say they agree to our relationship… and I am glad they gave us at least tonight.” She leaned at him, sighing.  
“I hate my uncle, he ruined so much tonight.”  
Silence between them.  
“Don’t say that. I met him earlier tonight and he seemed nice. His behaviour changed the moment he realized it was  _ you _ I was in love with. He really seems protective of you, but doesn’t notice that he hurts you a lot with that behaviour.”  
“And how he does,” Ben admitted. He then proceeded to tell her about his time in London. How much Luke cared about how he and Ben appeared to outsiders, that the most important thing was to impress other people. The funny thing was, it was exactly what Luke had told her he disliked about society, so she put one and one together. Maybe even Luke was unhappy in the big city, maybe he really was lonely. She immediately felt sad for him. The Skywalkers were really a tragic family.   
“I just want to understand him better,” Ben finished his explanations.  
Rey smiled at Ben.  
“What?”  
“He loves you Ben. You’re important to him. So I don’t think the company is as important to him as he claims. That should help you understand him at least a bit. Even more, it should encourage you to talk to him.”  
“What would I do without you,” he sighed.   
Then he simply kissed her. It was a short kiss though, because Rey could feel that something was still bothering him. So when he let go of her, she was just watching him with a questioning look in her eyes. He noticed this and shook his head.  
“It’s just… the other thing that annoys me is that Hux could get away tonight.”  
“Well, we then have to find another way to get him. I am sure Rose and the others have some ideas,” she tried to cheer him up. “We can’t change the things how they went tonight, but we can try to make the best out of the remaining evening. What do you think?”  
Ben tried to smile at her. “Let’s try.”  
After that, they joined the party again, this time more confident to walk around together, to be seen as a unity, Rey at Ben’s arm. Him leading her through the people.  _ Let them talk.  
_ It was Finn who crossed paths with them first. “Are you two okay? I was worried... that looked bad.”  
“Everything is okay, Finn,” said Rey, hugging her friend tightly. Finn almost dropped his platter with snacks, noticing that not everything was okay. But the good friend that he was, he rather stood there in silence, giving Rey all the hugs she wanted.  
“What will you do next?” he asked them.  
“We will first see what tomorrow brings,” Ben told him. “Until then, we dance.”  
With that, he pulled Rey away from Finn, bringing her to the space used for dancing and started to move along to the music. It had never occurred to Rey that Ben was a good dancer, leading her through the Waltz they danced now, ignoring the stares of the people around them. Rey never had learned to dance, so she stepped a few times on his feet, but all he did was laugh at it.   
Ben seemed to relax after the stressful meeting with his family, which made Rey happy. She had feared that he had been too discouraged by everything. Of course, everything could have turned out better. At least Leia wanted to talk to Luke, they wanted to find a way for them. There was still hope left.   
The evening was turning out to be truly magical. Like she always had imagined when reading fairytales about princesses. The feeling of wearing a beautiful gown, being the shining star on a ball, the mysterious woman impressing the prince. Ben was her prince in this scenario. Only her’s.   
They talked to all kinds of people too. Lando had not been informed about anything that happened in the drawing room yet and it was better to keep silent around, since it was guaranteed that whatever one told him, to make its rounds quickly. But at least he tried to tell a few fun anecdotes about Ben’s family, which Rey made laugh.   
Ben introduced him to a few people he had known since he was little. This gesture was probably enough for some people to guess that Rey was kinda special. Meant something important to Ben. At the end, probably half of the party knew that something was up with the two of them.   
They later enjoyed a drink with Padmé and Han. Ben’s father explained that Leia had left with Luke to talk to him. Apparently Luke was really upset how things went down and Han was sure he also felt sorry for what he had said about Rey.  
“Well, I would be happy for an excuse,” Rey said. “I really want to like him.”   
“Luke is a good man, even though he makes mistakes,” Padmé told not only Rey, but also Ben. She leaned at her grandson, taking Rey’s hand at the same time. “If he does not accept that life sometimes goes differently, I will slap some sense into him,” she sighed and then added: “I want many great-grandchildren!”   
Rey and Ben blushed.  
Han chuckled when he noticed that.  
Guests started to leave soon, making the party getting empty. Especially since in the distance, on the horizon, a storm started to grow. Lando would stay at Alderaan House, always as that one favorite, honorable member of the Skywalkers and Solos. The servants had started to clean the garden in the meantime, with the coming summer storm and the thunder rolling closer with each minute.   
Ben led Rey back into the Foyer.   
“Well, I have to go back to my room…” she told him and he stared longingly at her. She could feel that both of them were afraid of sharing a kiss, even though nobody was in the Foyer… and yet someone could enter and see them while they kissed. So Ben went to his room and Rey to her’s and Rose’s, without any kisses.  
It did not sit well with her.  
Since she was not sure what tomorrow would be happening.  
It felt not right.   
Yet, she sat in her white nightgown on her bed when Rose entered their room an hour later.   
“I heard what had happened tonight, Finn told me everything,” Rose said after she had gotten ready to go to bed too. The girls stared at each other for a moment.   
“Yeah it was not… a good experience. I am sure Ben’s family is nice… but his uncle is a cold, hard rock.”  
“Hopefully everything will go well tomorrow… We need a little bit of luck. Since Hux is also still out there somewhere…” Rose stared out of the window. Out there the storm had almost reached Alderaan House. “Try to sleep now, you will need the energy.” 

Rey really had tried to fall asleep, but her thoughts and the storm outside had made it difficult. So, after some time she got up, looking around the dark room, thinking what she should do next.   
In the end, she found herself standing in Ben’s room.  
When she had sneaked out of her room, walking through the dark and empty corridors, she had felt like in the very first night, when she had accidentally found Ben's room. The first night she also encountered Hux, without knowing this however, thinking he was a ghost.   
Little did she know that he was actually a demon, haunting her loved one.  
Then she had not dared to touch anything in Ben’s room, now she was sitting on his bed, exhausted and tired. He had also not been able to sleep and had been happy to see her standing at his door.   
“It was such a nice evening,” Rey told him now, “but the matter with your uncle and family…”  
“I do think my parents do not care, but since my uncle has a say in the family business… so, I definitely understand your worries and believe me, these kinds of thoughts have kept me way often and way earlier awake before we…”  
Rey looked up to him, as he struggled to find the right words.  
“We became… a couple.”  
She tried not to smile too much, that he definitely saw her as his girlfriend, his partner, his… future. He wanted to be with her and it did not matter to him what others were saying. Hearing these words coming from him made all their troubles look a bit easier. However, there was also something that bothered her.  
“Ben,” she said and since Ben had turned toward the window while he had blushed, he turned now back to look at her. “Whatever happens tomorrow, do not put me before your family. I know you love your parents. I… I do not want to see your heart get broken by being away from them.”   
Ben looked at her for a long time, without saying a word. She could not recognize any emotion on his face, so she looked away from him, flustered.   
Then he crossed the room to walk towards her, stopping in front of the bed, looking down at her.   
“Rey… I am so afraid to lose  _ everything _ tomorrow.”  
She looked up to him, realizing that he indeed had fear in his eyes. He indeed feared to lose not only her, but also his family. His parents. And maybe even the last remaining good relationship left with his uncle. Hux causing the trouble could seriously damage his reputation. All she could feel was sadness in this moment, the unbearable feeling of not knowing how life might continue.   
“Sometimes I wonder why it’s us,” she heard him say, the sorrow so clear in his voice. “I wonder why I met you. Why I fell in love with you. Why I have to belong to this family. Why my future was set and turned into something better when I kissed you for the first time. But why do we have so many obstacles in our way?”  
Rey took his hands, looking up to him.   
“I know. I wonder the same. Why it has been you. Why I fell in love with a person that I had told myself to be careful around. Life works in such mysterious ways and today I believe it was meant to be. To show us to each other that life has more to offer.”  
In the end, both had been forced by their life in drawers. Rey, the servant and maid, from an orphanage, who would never be more. Ben, who was forced to just inherit his family's company, ignoring his own wishes in the process. If they would have never met each other, they would have led a sad life, in invisible cages. By meeting each other they learned that their wishes and desires for life wanted more. Rey wanted to see the world, Ben wanted to be creative. Both of them wanted a family of their own. With each other.   
When Ben had started to move his hand gently over her cheek, caressing her like she was the most precious jewel he had ever seen, she looked up to him, determined.  
“Love me, Ben.”  
For a moment he looked confused down at her. Wondering what she had meant, when it finally dawned on him.  
“We can’t…” His voice only a whisper.  
“I don’t care anymore,” Rey said sternly. “We’ve cared most of the time we had together worrying about others. About what they might think about us. What we can and can’t do. Now we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. These could be our last hours together and I do not want to waste any more.” And in the next second she had grabbed his hand, pulled him towards her, so that in the next second he leaned over her. They both stared at each other intensely for a moment, Ben obviously a bit surprised about her determination and how she made it very clear how much she wanted him.  
“Love me, Ben,” she repeated.  
He obliged.   
His hands shook the whole time he was helping Rey get out of her nightgown. Thankfully she was just wearing this and no corset, since his hands shook so much. He would have never been able to open it. Rey’s hands were also shaking, when she unbuttoned his shirt, probably also not being able to open something so complex.  
He was showering her with kisses. Everything felt so right, even though they should have felt like they were committing a crime. Yet, Rey did not want this night to stop, though not knowing anything about these forbidden secrets, discovering them and each other with each touch and kiss.   
As it turned out, it became one of Rey’s favorite memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!  
> The past weeks have been quite chaotic for me, so there might be a delay with the release of the last two chapters! I will try to finish them to keep up with the schedule, but I thought it would be good to give y'all a heads up in case writing takes longer than planned!


	11. Ashes of a Nightmare

Waking up besides Rey felt like a dream come true, with the short, confusing time after waking up feeling like he was living the future he lately had started to dream about with Rey.   
After all these months holding back his passion, all his love for her, she had finally invited him. He had been respecting her wish to not cross any lines, even when he had gotten weak in some moments. Now they had never stopped loving each other the whole night.   
Loving her had felt right.   
Good.  
It was now even harder to get up so early. He picked up their clothes from the floor, putting them on the armchair, before he went and put on his fresh clothes. Carefully he moved, to not make any sound and wake her up. The time had come to talk to his family, tell them about his own feelings. He wanted to wake up besides Rey every day for the rest of his life. Somehow he had to convince them, especially his uncle, to change their opinion about his future.   
Before he left the room, he looked at the sleeping young woman in his bed. He would come back later to wake her up, she deserved some sleep. Ben had been very demanding after all.  
He closed the door carefully, walking down the corridor to the giant staircase leading into the foyer. Only a few servants were around, the first shift preparing to clean the rest of the mansion from the party last night. Through a window he could see Finn giving his colleagues directions on what to do next. His parents needed to talk to Mr Kenobi soon, so Finn could get a promotion. He truly deserved this.   
Ben entered the drawing room, where his mother was looking through some papers and his father talking to his uncle. His grandmother was seated in an armchair close to the windows, enjoying the first rays of the sun while having tea.  
“Good morning,” he said and took a seat beside his mother. Everyone’s attention went to him and they greeted him in return, before an awful silence filled the room.   
“I think last night was not a really good time to start talking about my decisions in life,” Ben said, slowly, choosing each word carefully. “I am glad you will still hear me out.”  
Leia put a hand over the hand of her son. “I already talked to your uncle,” she said, “and I think he has to tell you and us a few things first.”   
Luke stood up from the armchair besides Han, where both of them were comfortably chatting before. His uncle was not looking so comfortable anymore, now that he prepared to say something to everyone in the room.   
“Well, last night was not as pleasant as we all expected and my behaviour was probably the worst of it. I have not been fair to you Ben and of course Rey.”  
_ Especially Rey, _ Ben thought.   
“I talked to my sister and even my mother, who had some strong words about my behaviour and both of them made me realize that I focused maybe too much on our business and lost the sense of how it feels to have a family. So much that I was hurting my nephew, who I love so much. It was wrong to force you to care about the business - I am sure you care about it but it does not come first in your life. I hear you like writing and art a lot and I do understand your desire to see more on this earth than just England. I never wanted to be the bad guy standing between you and a happy life, but I have turned into the one. But believe me Ben, all I want is be the kind uncle that my nephew can come to when he needs to talk.”   
Ben looked up to his uncle, his heart beating so fast in his chest because of the honesty in his words. He knew that mistakes had been made, even he himself did some. The whole situation went off the rails in the end because of the bad decisions that were being made. All of it was caused because nobody had dared to talk to each other and it had to stop, so he got up from where he had sat down, looking at his uncle.   
“I understand. I understand how it might have felt seeing an insecure future for the business. And I also was not honest to you or anyone of our family. I will correct everything and I still want you in my life, uncle. You’re also so important to me, it would have broken my heart if this situation would have destroyed this family.”   
Leia got up and hugged her son and he hugged her back. He was glad to have all of them, that they were in the end understanding, figuring out a solution for all of this.   
“Of course, you will have to apologize to Rey too. There is so much more we need to talk about.” Ben told his uncle.  
“I will do that, once she is with us. In fact, we will still have to discuss a lot today, since I have to be back in London tomorrow morning,” Luke explained. “With you wanting to stay here, maybe we can already discuss some solutions for the future of the business. Together.”  
“All I hear from you is business this, business that… Luke, please, this is not the right time for it,” commented Padmé.  
“You can’t change old habits so quickly, mother!”   
Leia laughed at the scene of Padmé and Luke playfully arguing with each other. In fact, Ben had never seen his uncle like this before. So relaxed and enjoying spending time with everyone…  
“Whatever you and grandmother did to him, it did wonders…” he whispered to his mother.   
“Luke has always a lot of things on his mind and sometimes he just needs a little guidance. London and the business won’t be a big problem anymore and hopefully you and him will be on good terms again soon.”  
“Yeah, just give us the time. Especially since he has also hurt Rey. We need to respect her opinion on this too. We will still need a lot of time to heal from all the words that have been said to us, the hurtful ones. It will take time, but I think everyone deserves a second chance.”  
At least that was someone like his uncle deserved. Ben knew that it started because Luke was worried about the future, so good intentions had turned into bad ones. But it was obvious that his uncle wanted to right his wrongs again and why should he deny him it?   
He watched his uncle carefully, as he talked to Padmé. Luke truly looked happy to be surrounded by his family and although he had not said it out loud, Ben just knew that it would also break Luke if this family would fall apart.   
Leia nodded. “I understand that.”  
She then let go of her son and went over to Han to talk about him. He observed his parents, before he looked at his uncle and grandmother again. They had stopped arguing now, with his grandmother talking about some ideas she had for the business, for a new direction all of it could take. Ben smiled and then his mother spoke again.  
“Since we cleared some of the problems, I think we should actually celebrate that Ben has found someone he wants to marry. I think this House desperately needs some celebrations again and a wedding is more than wonderful. Rey is a wonderful woman and I can’t wait for her to join us as a family member. With that, all of us agreed to something,” Leia explained and then Han gave her a small box, which she brought to Ben. “With all of us I mean me, your father, uncle and grandmother. It’s time to give this to the next generation.”  
Ben took the black box and slowly opened it. A beautiful golden ring with blue sapphires was in there. He immediately recognized this ring.  
“I can’t-”  
“You can. It’s a family heirloom,” said Han. “Your grandfather got engaged with it to your grandmother. I was given this ring to ask your mother. Now it’s time that you start a new chapter for this family with this ring.”  
Ben looked at his parents and then at his grandmother and uncle, feeling overwhelmed at this situation.   
“Thank you,” he said, with his voice shaking. In the matter of hours he went through all of these emotions and now all his worries were lifted off of his shoulders. All his dreams would become true, especially the future with Rey on his side. They would see the world together. He truly wanted to cry, if he wouldn’t have remembered something else.   
Right when Ben wanted to tell them more about his feelings and plans for the future, Rose and Finn entered the room, slamming the door open, making everyone jump and turn towards them.   
“Terribly sorry for the disruption,” said Finn.   
Ben immediately noticed that something was wrong. Rose and Finn looked at each other, as if they were not sure what to say.   
“Mr and Mrs Solo,” Rose said while turning to Han and Leia, bowing quickly, before turning her attention to someone else. “Ben… when maids were sent to clean your room…”  
Ben shot out of the room, before Rose could even finish that sentence. His family followed him in confusion. He would have to explain to them later what had happened after the party; if there even was a later, because when he entered his room, chaos reigned in there. Chairs had been knocked over, papers lying around, the bed sheets destroyed.  
Immediately he was looking for Rey, but she was nowhere to be seen. Rose and Finn were the first to reach him.   
“She has not been seen downstairs too,” Rose explained to him.   
Visibly shocked by whatever had happened here this morning after he left, he noticed some blood on the floor. Hopefully it wasn’t Rey’s…   
He heard how his family came into his room.   
“What has happened here?” his mother asked, but Ben had no answer for her.   
Ben then found a note on the floor, signed with an A and H.   
“Not him…” he said with a shaky voice, which caught the attention of everyone in the room.   
“What is wrong?” asked his father.   
Something that had bothered him way too long was wrong. One last thing that was threatening to ruin everything now.   
“There is something else I have to tell all of you. Something I have not really been honest about too…” he said slowly.  
Then he told them about his history with Hux. 

When Rey woke up her head hurt like she had been punched at least a thousand times. Dizzily, she looked around and realized to her shock that she was not at Alderaan House anymore. She had been bound to the massive wooden bedpost, almost as high as the ceiling making it impossible to free herself, wearing her nightgown. Freeing herself from the bonds was unsuccessful and she only hurt herself after tearing at it for quite some time, so she sat down and tried to remember what happened between last night and now.   
She remembered Ben’s touch and warmth around her, the huge mistake they had made, worry and guilt trying to ruin this feeling of happiness when thinking about this memory. When she had woken up, Ben had not been beside her in the bed anymore. The memory of the fear she had felt in that moment came suddenly back. Maybe he had realized what kind of mistake their relationship was, maybe he had tried to talk to his uncle again but everything went wrong… so many possibilities were filling her head when she had gotten up and had put on her nightgown. Then she looked around in the room again, realizing that something had been off.   
“Ben?” she had asked, her voice only a whisper.   
But there had been no answer. There never was one, because the next thing she remembered was someone grabbing her from behind and then waking up in this room. When she looked around again, trying to see something in this dark place, she realized she was in some kind of old, unused bedroom. Things haven’t been touched in ages, no trace of any former owner of it, dust settling on the few pieces of furniture scattered around.  
The air was cold, which made her gut feeling even worse.  
Rey did not like this place at all.   
Then, she heard footsteps.   
Looking carefully at the door, she tried to make out in the dark who came inside the room.   
“Ah, the princess has woken up!”   
She recognized that voice immediately: Hux.  
“Why am I here? What are you up to?” Rey asked him, demanding with the tone of her voice an answer.   
Hux chuckled and lightened up a candle, so they could see each other better.   
“You’re kinda cute when you’re so angry. How unfortunate that I can’t take you seriously like that,” he turned away, doing something at the desk in the room. Unfortunately Rey could not see anything, since Hux was blocking the view. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against you. But since last night’s meeting with Ben I finally realized… what his weakness was.”  
“He has no weaknesses! He has figured out what you’re planning and soon you will be behind prison bars for the things you did to others and him!” Rey almost screamed at Hux.  
That made Hux turn around and come closer to her. He knelt in front of her, looking her deep in the eyes, with him only backlit by the candle back at the desk.   
“Oh, he definitely has one,” he told her.   
Then she realized.   
It was her.   
Rey was Ben’s weakness.   
When he would realize that she was not at Alderaan House anymore…  
“Why? Why are you doing this?” she asked Hux. Now fear was slowly creeping into her with every word she spoke. Ben would be out looking for her, trying to find her, not caring what his family would say. He would walk straight into the trap Hux had set, with Rey as the bait and she hated it so much that she could not warn Ben anymore.   
Before Hux gave her an answer, he got up again and turned his attention back at whatever he was doing at the desk.  
“It is easy,” he said. “Ben took everything from me, everything I worked so hard for. He became Snoke’s favorite so quickly… and I did everything to ruin his reputation. Ben comes from a good and rich house, he grew up with everything he wanted. I had to fight for everything: the love of my parents, my reputation, everything I own today. I just wanted to make him feel like I did all those years. And last night I realized how I can finally put an end to him. He would never recover from losing you.”  
_ This man is insane, _ thought Rey while trying to free herself again, but to no success. Rey could not believe it that this man had been triggered by Ben’s presence and success regarding this Snoke. Maybe it had been easy for him to stage the accident that killed Snoke, Rey figured. There had been a lot of hate involved and she was sure Hux had also developed some for Snoke too.   
“Why was it so important for you what this man, Snoke, was thinking of you? He was doing bad stuff. He almost made Ben turn to do shady business. He has already done that with you. For me it seems like it’s something that it’s not worth fighting for,” Rey finally told him.   
Hux was silent for some time.   
Then he turned around, with a bucket in his hand and a bowl in his other one.   
“Maybe it seems like this to you, but let us be real for a moment. Between us two. If you wouldn’t have let him crawl between his legs you sooner or later would have realized that doing all the dirty work for his family was not quite the best life one could dream of, right? You could have easily stepped on the same path that I did and then the attention of one influential man would all you be caring for too. Especially when it could influence the rest of your life,” he explained and then started to scatter a fluid out of the bucket.   
Rey had a bad feeling about this.   
“It still doesn’t sound convincing to me,” she told him, although it had made her think about her life a bit more. Rey had been very lucky to find the employment at Alderaan House, because not everyone from the Orphanage had been so lucky. She knew that many had to struggle a lot after starting a life of their own. Everything could have gone badly for her too, at least in that sense Hux was right.   
_ Yet he completely lost himself on his journey,  _ she realized.  _ Actually _ ,  _ you could feel bad for him.   
_ She watched him how he scattered more of the fluid in the room and reminded herself that he was planning something horrible, with the intention to hurt her. Hux was not caring about her, so why should she?   
He then went to the other rooms, still spilling the fluid, before returning after a few minutes again. Then he stood there and grabbed the candle he had brought with him.   
“So, our little chat has come to an end. It’s time to say goodbye Miss Rey. At least you can be sure that it will break Ben’s heart that you died in such a cruel way. His reputation will be ruined forever and he will hopefully leave this place soon,” Hux said, took a deep breath and then added: “Or even better: he is so dumb that he wants to save you and follows you immediately to hell.”   
Then he dropped the candle and left the room.   
It took a few seconds before Rey realized what had just happened. When the candle had hit the floor, flames started to spread immediately. The rotten wood caught quickly on fire, as if it had been starving for it.   
“That bastard!” Rey cursed, not caring about her choice of words. She had worse to worry about. Again, she started to tear at her bonds, but again to no success. The heat in the room quickly became unbearable.   
For a moment she stared at the flames that grew higher and higher.   
Rey could not believe that she had seen Ben for the very last time last night. At least it was a good memory that he could think of her, when he remembered her. Then there was the anger that Hux had succeeded in hurting him so much. No, last night could not be the last memory they had created together… but she felt so lonely in this moment, the darkness creeping into her heart.  
Tears started to roll down her cheeks, thinking about the pain Ben would have to endure because of her and she wished they would have never crossed paths.   
The flames came closer.

When Ben and his Uncle had arrived in the town, a commotion was going through the citizens, because something had been happening at the abandoned Snoke estate.   
After Ben had told his family everything, they were shocked at first but then also worried for Rey. They had told him to not waste any more time, all of them could discuss the rest at a later point. His parents would be calling officers and would soon follow him and his uncle to the estate. They had figured out quickly that Hux had probably chosen the old Snoke estate because of its relevance to both men.   
For the very first time, Finn and Rose had also heard the full story. With no time to ask Ben further questions, they hurried to inform Poe, who was now driving Ben and Luke like an insane person, through the streets of the town, almost crashing into other cars or even people.   
When they came closer to the estate, they saw smoke.   
“Faster!” Ben screamed at Poe, who did as he was told. Poe also just wanted to reach his friend in time, before the worst could have happened to her.  
“You need to calm down,” said Luke. “You won’t be able to help her when you lose your head.”  
Ben sighed. “I know, but… I am sure Hux has thought of something truly horrible and time is of essence. I can’t believe he is making Rey pay for everything I have done wrong!”   
Luke put a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Someone like Hux does not care who he hurts and I am sure Rey wouldn’t make you feel guilty for it. She will be fine and we will bring her safely home.”  
Ben looked at his uncle for a moment. A few days ago he would have never imagined that they would finally get along, although the circumstances were not so happy. However, Ben had the feeling that his Uncle truly was sorry for the things he said and did and Ben wouldn’t deny him a second chance. Rey had been right: he loved his uncle as he loved the rest of the family. Without them he would have been nothing.   
But he would also be nothing without Rey and time was of the essence he had to remind himself.   
Hux probably had chosen something horrible to make her and him suffer - probably with the goal to hurt Ben even years after these events. Oh how Ben hated that man. He still could not believe that he had trusted Hux when he first joined Snoke’s little gang of bad people. He had really thought that they might become friends, but Ben had realized way too late that he had been looking for friends in the wrong place. If all of this wouldn’t have happened, then he wouldn't have gotten into this situation. He would not have endangered the woman he loved.  
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back, realizing it was his uncle’s. The silent support felt great as they came closer to Snoke’s abandoned mansion, the first and second levels already on fire, people trying to tame the flames.   
Ben knew immediately that Rey was in that mansion somewhere.   
He did not wait until Poe had parked the car, when he jumped out of the backseat and started running toward the mansion. Before he could enter the house however, people held him back.  
“Let me go! Someone is still in there!” he screamed at them.  
“But the flames have destroyed too much of the house already!” a woman said. “Anyone inside might be dead.”  
He did not want to hear these words and freed himself. Angrily, he walked away from the people, staring at the burning mansion. He could hear his uncle's voice behind him talking to the people, asking if they had noticed something suspicious, but they had no clear hints for them.   
Then he saw a shadow through a window.   
Someone was probably still in the foyer.   
The next second he ran toward the front door, his uncle screaming for him to not do that, but soon Ben found himself inside the burning mansion, heat immediately hitting him in the face.   
His eyes had a hard time to adjust to the light of the bright flames and the smoke, but then he saw the shadow again, moving toward the old library and he simply followed.  
An ominous creaking filled the mansion, signalising that it might soon collapse. By then Ben had to have found Rey and gotten out with her.   
When he entered the library, he recognized that the shadow had been Hux. The red haired man turned around, with an angry look, looking like the devil himself. If Ben remembered the house well, then Hux was probably on his way to leave the house through the backdoor, since the library led into a small winter garden and access to the actual gardens.   
“You really do not give up, do you?” he spat furiously.   
“For Rey I would never,” Ben dryly replied. “Where is she? I know she must be in here somewhere.”  
Hux turned around. “You will never find her. Only her ashes.”  
With that, Ben ran towards Hux and before Hux could run away from him, Ben was able to hold on to him by grabbing Hux’ shirt at the collar.   
“I will find her alive and you will tell me now where you have hidden her. Even if I have to beat that information out of you!” Ben threatened. He could feel how this man made him forget himself. Hux knew exactly which buttons he had to press, so Ben would turn into a literal beast. Too much hate and frustration had built up in these men and all these emotions could not be contained anymore. Hux exactly knew what he would do to him if Rey would die, as he stared right into Ben’s wild eyes.  
However, a slap brought him back into reality. Hux had started to defend himself and their whole fight escalated. Ben had to dodge not only the punches Hux threw at him, but also the flames coming closer on these two. At one point, he ran against Hux and both of them crashed into the bookshelves. Hux immediately counter attacked Ben, pushing him away, almost into flames. A searing pain brushed over his left arm. Yet, Ben had no time to further think about the injuries he gained through Hux, because if he showed weakness, Hux would probably feel like he won.   
So in the end Ben crashed into him again, his fists meeting Hux’ face. Upside was suddenly down, the library was unrecognizable and the next thing he knew was that both crashed through a big window and were suddenly outside. Hux was under him and Ben used the time to hit him with his fists, while people came running towards them.  
“Ben!” It was his uncle’s voice, which made him stop for a moment.   
“He is the one responsible for the fire! I have to get back into the house, someone is probably still in there. Keep an eye on him, he needs to go to prison!” With that, Ben was on his feet again, while other people seized Hux. It took Ben a while to recognize where he was now: behind the winter garden  
“Ben, no!” he heard his uncle scream, the moment Ben entered the burning mansion again. 

Rey was sitting on the bed now, knowing very well this was a bad spot to stay and focus on freeing herself from her bonds. If the flames reached the old blankets, she would be on fire in just a few minutes. However, she had started to move up and down with her arms, to strain the bonds with brute force, so they would finally rip. It took a lot of time and energy and in the end, she just sat there, doing everything she could while crying.   
She just wanted to be with Ben. He had given her something that she thought she would never have: a family to belong to. Leia and Han had been so welcoming and she was sure she would even get Luke sooner or later on her side too. Friends like Rose, Finn and Poe, that were ready to help her be together with the love of her life.   
But now all of it would be literal ashes.   
Rey definitely did not dare to think about a future with Ben, but there was this horrible feeling of loss. Thinking that she would be losing so much that she finally gained, made her incredibly sad. She had a hard time to not get paralyzed by these thoughts and tried to move on with her plan.   
The flames came dangerously close… then another idea struck her. She tried to lean forward as much as possible, holding the bonds closer to the flames and had to endure the pain the heat caused on her skin. Maybe… the fire could destroy the bonds. She prayed…  
And then she felt a snap.   
Rey moved away from the massive wooden bedpost and gained new energy, with the new prospect of maybe still being able to flee from the fire. She jumped off the bed, over the fire and crashed onto the wooden floor, rolling away from the fire. Then she got up and ran out of the bedroom.   
Snoke’s mansion was much smaller, which was a benefit in this situation: she would have an easier time to get out. She ran through the corridors, old pictures already on fire, rugs already turning to ash under her feet. Sometimes she had to stop as her nightgown had caught fire. Additionally, she tried to ignore the pain under her feet, as she was running through the mansion on bare feet. Even if she would get out of the mansion, she would still have gained a bunch of injuries.   
She heard screaming and crashing in the distance, wondering a moment if people had noticed the fire and were trying to extinguish it. And then she felt a cold shiver at how eerie the whole scenery was and how lost she actually felt.   
When she reached the gallery, she looked down into the foyer, which was fully on fire, cutting off her way out of the mansion. Again, she felt like crying but she then started moving again, toward the staircase, also on fire. Then she tried to get an overview of the foyer. She had an idea… and she could only pray that she would not break any of her bones…  
Rey started to run, towards the staircase, jumping over some of the flames, before she had reached a height that was safe and jumped over the handrail, right above a bigger source of fire, crashing onto the floor made of marble. When she hit the stone, it hurt more than the wooden floor and she felt something crack in her body. Yet, there was no time to think about her injuries. She had to get out of here.   
When she wanted to get up, she felt a piercing pain in her right leg and in the next second she was on the floor again, surrounded by the flames. She let her tears flow, screaming for help, because without someone helping her, she would never get out… Shaking angrily at her failure and the impossibility of this task.   
Then she felt a hand on her back, gently pulling her closer to the person who had appeared beside her.   
Ben.  
“I’ve finally found you…” he said, his voice still strained because of the stressful situation and yet he also sounded so relieved to finally have her in his arms again…  
She hugged him, thankful for him to have shown up. “I thought I would never see you again… I felt so… horribly alone.”  
“When we get out of here, you will never be alone again,” he promised her and then picked her up in a bridal carry. “Hold on to me,” he told her and she complied. She would never let go of him anymore.   
Ben carried her through the flames, jumping over debris and holes in the ground, coming from parts of the mansion that have already collapsed.   
Then fresh air hit her, as Ben stumbled out of the mansion, trying to not trip over stairs that had let up to an entrance. As soon as they were a safe distance away from the burning mansion, he sat Rey down in the grass and knelt before her. Before Rey could say anything, he simply kissed her, with so much relief and passion, that she did not bother a second that people were gathering around them, one of them being Ben’s uncle.   
When Ben finally let go of her, she had to gasp for air first.   
However, Ben was not done.   
He was searching for something in his jacket, while still staring at her with determination. Then he had finally found what he had been looking for, pulling a tiny black box out of his pockets.   
“I never want to feel this emptiness in my heart, the moment I realized you were not at home anymore. The fear of losing you in these flames… Rey, you’re the best thing to come into my life, changing everything and improving it…”  
He opened the tiny box and Rey looked at the ring.  
An overwhelming feeling of love came over her, as she realized what Ben was doing.   
“Today I learned how much I love you and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Rey, I love you. Until the light of the very last star in this universe has stopped shining.”  
Rey was crying again, but this this time because she felt so happy in her life, like she never had before actually. She knew that her future would be at Ben’s side, knowing she belonged right there and together they would experience so many new aspects of life…  
A new adventure for both of them.  
“Will you marry me, Rey?”  
“Yes,” she said. 


	12. Home

> _ BEN SOLO: A PORTRAIT  _
> 
> _ It’s not usual that gossip from the countryside travels quickly to the doorsteps of a flourishing city like London. Yet, in this case it was bound to happen as the major news broke a few weeks ago that an incident in the hometown of business man and leader Luke Skywalker caused quite the distraction recently.   
>  _ _ Luke Skywalker was recently preparing his young nephew, Ben Solo to take over the Skywalker Corporation, a flourishing import and export business, when Mr Solo returned to his home to take some time off. Rumour had it at the time, in the highest ranks of society of London, that Mr Solo was preparing to look for a bride to stabilize his future as the leader of the business, which had apparently caused trouble between the two men.   
>  _ _ With his return to his home, Alderaan House, things became quickly difficult. When I talked to people living in his hometown, I was told that Mr Solo had always a questionable reputation, as the son of Luke Skywalker’s sister Leia, who married a young man named Han Solo. Loyal and older readers might remember that with this marriage, Leia Solo gave up her active leading position in London, to raise her son at the family home. Some might say it paralleled the early days of the Skywalker Family, when Anakin and Padmé Skywalker took some time to live there too and raise their children Luke and Leia, while leading the business. The marriage between Leia and Han had been frowned upon in business circles, since Han Solo had been a poor young man when meeting his future wife. Voices of him just wanting her money got loud very quickly, but with the years those fell slowly silent.   
>  _ _ With the birth and coming of age of Ben Solo however, critics had found a new victim and when listening to the headlines regarding the Skywalkers and Solos in these past weeks, they might feel like they had been right all along.   
>  _ _ Before Mr Solo came to London to get an education in business matters, he met a young man named Armitage Hux. During this time, the duo was known for their bad behaviour towards women and their dubious relationship to a man named Snoke, which gave them the reputation of men one should avoid. With the death of Snoke, which Mr Solo was apparently responsible for, he became a complete outsider and tried to begin a new life in London, which for already mentioned reasons, was not working out for him.   
>  _ _ With the tragedy only being known as hushed gossip, he returned to finally find a wife. After a talk with some women who had set their eyes on this very fortunate match, it was obvious that for the money many of these ladies would ignore the fact they were planning to marry a possible murderer. At this point, we do not want to judge these young ladies too much.  
>  _ _ However, nothing would come as planned as Mr Solo met a young lady at his house. A woman simply named Rey, came from an orphanage where she grew up, to work as a maid for his family. Apparently both of them got close to each other quite fast, which caused the old problems of Mr Solo to stir up again.   
>  _ _ Mr Hux would later confess that he was responsible for the death of Snoke and that he had wanted to blame Mr Solo for it, since Mr Solo was apparently successful in Snoke’s business and quite popular, causing a lot of jealousy in Mr Hux. Having thought that he had chased him away when Mr Solo left for London, he had been celebrating his victory, resulting in multiple other breakings of laws, which we do not want to highlight at this point. However, when Mr Solo had returned a sinister plan had formed in Mr Hux’ head: finally dispose of this man he had become jealous of. Mr Hux was also the first one to discover the affair between Mr Solo and Miss Rey.  
>  _ _ The whole feud exploded in the fateful night of the fire in Snoke Manor, as local townspeople have dubbed it, which has apparently become haunted since these tragic events. Mr Hux had kidnapped Miss Rey and had been determined to burn the house down with her, again trying to blame Mr Solo for the murder of her and finally ruin his reputation. Mr Hux later confessed that he wanted to leave the town and start a new life somewhere else.  
>  _ _ On that night however, Mr Solo had proven himself as the victim of Mr Hux’ horrible schemes, as he jumped into the flames to save his loved one.   
>  _ _ Mr Hux will face a trial very soon and will serve many years in prison. Since the truth had been discovered now, the town and other related friends and family are showing an outpouring of love for the youngest Solo, who could ignore them after the hurtful gossip, but the family is welcoming everyone with open arms.   
>  _ _ However, there is more to celebrate very soon: Mr Solo and Miss Rey are cordially inviting new and old friends and family to join them next summer to attend their wedding. At this point, we are wishing Mr Solo and Miss Rey the best for their future. _

* * *

**ONE YEAR LATER**

The day could not have been more beautiful. The sun was shining, the sky a bright blue. The sunshine made it look like everything was bathing in light, a perfect day for a wedding.   
Rey stood in her room, with Rose and Jannah running around her, giving her some finishing touches. The young girl looked at her reflection, not recognizing the poor girl from the orphanage anymore. The white silk of the wedding gown was falling down like a waterfall on her, a simple but effective dress. A few rhinestones made it sparkle everytime she moved, even if it was just a little bit. A long veil was framing her head, where her hair had been done in a creative updo and braids. She truly looked royal in this dress. A walking ray of light.  
Her eyes wandered to the necklace. It was the one that Padmé had given her, which Luke had later taken from her, just to return it before he left for London again after the incident.   
“I owe you an apology,” he had told her at that time. “We will have a long way to go probably, but I hope you will take this as the first step to truly become one family. I was so wrong to doubt the love between you two.” With that, he had given her the necklace back, which Rey wore each day since then and would not take it off today too. It has become a symbol for her, the symbol of that it was worth it to endure long phases of pain and to fight back when necessary to reach a goal. That goal has been being together with Ben. Her new family. All of that, represented in that small blue pendant.  
When Rose and Jannah were done, they took a step back to take a look at Rey as if they just finished a painting. And Rey indeed felt like one.   
“He will be speechless,” said Jannah, happy with the outcome.   
Jannah left after that, so Rey and Rose were alone for a moment. After the incident both of them had grown quite close and new opportunities were opening up for Rose. Mrs Holdo had offered her an education as the household keeper, the highest position a woman working for a family like the Solos could wish for.   
Rey smiled at her friend now.   
“I still can’t believe all of it. You are standing in front of me with that gorgeous dress… When all of this started, I never thought it would work out… no offense,” Rose explained. “And all you needed was to get almost roasted.”   
Rey laughed at Rose saying it like that. After the first shock had faded, everyone involved tried to approach everything that had happened with a relaxed view. Hux was in prison and could do no harm anymore to anyone, Ben and Rey were still alive, today was their wedding day and everything would be well in the end.  
“I agree,” Rey said after she was done laughing. “The past year was such a strange experience, I can’t believe it myself.” Rey had become very quickly the newest interest of the townspeople. Friends of the family showed up frequently to meet her, talk to this woman who Ben Solo had been ready to sacrifice everything for. His family had welcomed her with a warmth that Rey had never known before. Ben’s parents had made sure that she would adjust quickly to her new lifestyle, while Padmé was always so generous of giving her presents - most of the time family heirlooms, dresses or jewelry - and telling her about important stories about the Skywalker family (making it feel like she had known Ben’s grandfather, Anakin herself). In such a short time Rey had started to feel like a pivotal member of this family.   
Rose left after some time, since she had to leave for the church. Rey continued to stare at herself in the mirror, before she also had to leave. Poe would drive her to the church, where Ben would be waiting for her… Everyone had made sure they would not see each other before the wedding, but the time apart has felt like a torture to her.   
She had walked slowly to the gallery, feeling judged by all the paintings of people she did not know hanging on the wall until she had reached the staircase railing, where she could look down into the foyer where nobody was. Poe was probably late, because he and Finn had just arrived from London actually. Finn had been promoted by Ben to take over his place in London, to get taught everything important about the family business, because Ben had felt that Finn had so much more to offer than just being a servant. Of course Poe had followed him as Finn’s personal driver, but Rey and Rose knew that there was much more going on between them and London was probably a better place to live there than a small town like this.   
Suddenly Rey’s eyes caught a person on a person who walked up and down, as if they were quite nervous.  
It was Ben.   
She wanted to leave, respecting the traditions that everyone had tried to honor these past days, but then she stopped again and looked down at him. He had not noticed her and slipped now into the tiny library, probably to have a few minutes for himself. Didn’t he have to leave soon too actually?   
There was that urge to talk to him… and so she followed him into the library. 

Ben missed Rey so much, although he knew after today he would be around her for the rest of his life. And yet it felt not enough.   
He never wanted to feel the emptiness of losing her again, which is why he tried to spend so much time with her the past year, making sure her body was still warm besides his.   
He's had a hard time coming to terms with everything that happened and for the first few months he had this unbearable feeling of being guilty that Rey was hurt. The anxiety and fear that something else could happen again. Very often, Rey had to comfort him late at night when he was exhausted from all these negative thoughts, telling him that nobody would have seen coming that Hux would be capable of doing horrible things like in that night and that he was in prison and would not be able to harm him or her again.   
Without Rey at his side he probably would have not recovered from the incident. She was such a wonderful supporter.  
Especially when he had to tell the police his viewpoint of the incident and relations surrounding it. Ben also confessed to a bunch of things he did, but after the whole town felt bad about gossiping about him behind his back, they dropped his case very quickly since nobody wanted to mess further with the Solos. Thankfully the list of things Ben did was not much, mostly breaking the hearts of young girls and being a messenger for Snoke, only breaking minor laws. He was glad however, when he didn’t have to worry further about everything and the thing was officially done.   
Hux trial was hard to endure though.   
He truly made a scene in the courtroom, still acting as if Ben was the worst, but thankfully nobody believed his lies anymore. Some days he would attack Ben and Rey directly and it was hard for them to stay silent during these days. It was especially hard when they had to give their testimony and Hux called them out for spreading lies and insulting them. However, it always felt like everyone was against Hux, so nobody really bothered about his meltdowns. It was over for Hux when other crimes he did were uncovered, things that he also had tried to blame Ben for behind his back. It was sad to see that Hux had gotten so lost in his anger and jealousy, that he completely lost the grip on reality.   
In the end, when he was sent to prison for many years, the only thing that Hux gave him was a glance that could have killed someone. It was sad to see him go like this, because Ben was sure that Hux could have been such a nice man, maybe he truly could have been friends with him in another life, but not in this one.   
After the trial and things had started to calm down, Ben had started to feel more and more relaxed with each day. As if someone had taken off a heavy weight from his shoulders.   
That he had been planning a wedding in the past months still felt like he had never woken up from a dream. How bad everything had looked for him and now his future was shining bright. He even had taken care of finding a replacement for him at his family’s business in London and Finn was definitely the right candidate for it.  
He truly would have never reached this point in his life without Rey and he was not sure if he ever would be able to thank her for that. How could you even thank someone who saved your life? All he could offer was a life full of love… and it seemed like the best gift he could give her.  
Now he was staring at the floor, putting his suit into place again, waiting for the signal to drive to the church. His suit was quite expensive, a dark blue, emphasizing his build. His mother had commented that he looked like those heroes in the books, who the young girls like to read. Rey would be enchanted by him, when she laid her eyes on him later… He also was so excited to see Rey in her dress-  
Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. When he turned he almost thought an angel had appeared to him, but then he realized it was Rey in her wedding gown.   
He looked away as quickly as possible.   
“We are not supposed to see each other before the ceremony!” he told her, his voice shaking.   
“I don’t care right now,” Rey whispered, while she slowly closed the door behind her. “I needed to see you to calm down my nerves.”  
Then he heard her come closer.   
“You look like you’ve been thinking too much again,” she said.   
Ben sighed. “Does it surprise you? After everything we’ve been through?”  
He finally dared to look at Rey, her beautiful face framed by the white veil, a golden tiara on her head… she truly was looking like a princess from a fairytale right now. And she smiled at him.   
“You should stop thinking about all these negative thoughts. Of course things have been hard, but without them we wouldn’t stand here… soon to be married. It’s a dream come true for me and you also deserve this moment. It does not matter what other people say,” she told him with a gentle voice.  
Ben raised a hand and touched her face. Her skin was so soft. Warm.  
“I love how optimistic you are.”  
Rey laughed. “Ben, I have to be. I always had to make the best of the worst situations in my life. Without that I wouldn’t be here today,” she explained. “I am so happy.”   
She hugged him, clinging tightly to him, never wanting to let him go again. Carefully he placed his hands on her back, afraid to ruin her dress or hair too much.   
“I am so happy too. I love you Rey. I think I loved you from the very beginning on that night when I arrived here. Our little talk in the Parlour, our outings… I love you,” he whispered in her ear.   
With that, she kissed him passionately, one last time in their old life. 

The next one they shared was the beginning of their new life.  
Together. United.  
The crowd was cheering when both of them turned around after they had just said “yes”. Rey dared to wave at Rose and then at Finn, who had been so nice to lead her to the altar earlier and was now throwing flower petals at the newlyweds. Luke had brought the rings to them and it was obvious that Ben had a hard time to not simply start crying because of all the happiness he was feeling today. Thankfully it was Leia who cried a lot during the ceremony, happy to see her son shining like he was the happiest man alive. She was still crying, when they moved past her and she leaned against Han, who looked after his son and his daughter-in-law so proudly.  
When they both walked down the aisle, hand in hand and looking at each other, everything felt right for Rey. It was as if she was always supposed to be on this side. As a child she had always dreamed about finding a prince who would invite her to his castle, the childish idea of falling in love and beginning a new life with him. It had always seemed so far away, as fantasie like that always are. She always thought she would be working as a servant forever, still dreaming about her childhood dreams when she was old and done living her life. Always feeling this empty hole in her heart that she had started to feel when she grew up in the orphanage and nobody wanted to adopt her.   
The fear of always being lost and forgotten.   
However, she had been found.   
Ben had been found.   
They had found each other.   
And each of them had filled a part inside themselves, that had been missing. They completed each other.  
Both of them walked out of the church, where the sun was greeting them, as Mr and Mrs Solo, ready to go on new adventures now. See the world, learn about all the places that Rey had always dreamed about to visit when she was younger.   
But Ben would always be by her side now, the prince she had always dreamed about and together they would overcome any hardships that life had still in store for them. All the beautiful and good moments waiting for them.   
And she realized...  
He had become her  _ home _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's a wrap!  
> Thank you very much if you've been reading this until the end, it means a lot to me! ❤️️
> 
> Personally, I had to make a few changes while writing, so I am not quite satisfied with the outcome. However, I will learn from the mistakes for the next fic, which I will definitely prepare a bit better. At least it was a fun ride and a great challenge to get back into writing!
> 
> Hopefully I will see you again for the next Reylo fic I am currently preparing... 💕


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